As the year winds down to a close, with just three weeks left on the calendar, Nextdoor may be the next, last, big meme stock of 2025. Here’s why.
What happened?
On Wednesday, Nextdoor Holdings Inc. (NYSE: NXDR) shares rose 49% in early trading, the most in over four years, according to Bloomberg.
The gains come on the heels of a series of posts on X on Wednesday morning by investor Eric Jackson, founder of the EMJ Capital hedge fund, who described the neighborhood-focused site as “one of the most misunderstood platforms in the market” and touted its AI potential. “Nextdoor isn’t a social network. It’s a neighborhood operating system with AI-native revenue,” as well as its large membership (100 million households in 10 countries).
At the time of this writing, Nextdoor was holding steady, up over 17% in midday trading.
What is a meme stock?
A meme stock is when a company’s stock gains popularity in online forums, often on social media. This can happen when a discussion thread on, say, Reddit, X, or Facebook kicks off a conversation about a company, often leading to the buying, selling, or shorting of shares.
A meme stock starts when investors gather on discussion boards and chat rooms, such as Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets, to swap tips and ideas of unconventional stocks they are going to “bet” on. And the efforts of those individuals, collectively, often end up influencing the stock’s share price, either up or down. “Meme stocks can become overvalued relative to fundamental technical analysis,” according to the financial content website Investopedia, often causing large price swings in either direction.
Is Nextdoor the next GameStop?
GameStop (NYSE: GME) is generally considered the first real meme stock. However, it remains unclear whether Nextdoor will be able to sustain today’s double-digit rise.