Update on GameStop; Tesla is launching its robotaxi service in Austin; More on why I'm bullish on nuclear power

1) Regular readers know that I've been warning about GameStop (GME) for years...

You might recall that I most recently discussed the video-game retailer and former meme-stock darling on March 27 and March 28. As I said in those e-mails, the company is trying to goose its stock price by becoming a bitcoin play.

Turning to more recent developments, GameStop reported earnings on Tuesday after the close... and the stock dropped 5.3% yesterday in response.

Year over year, revenue fell 17% – missing estimates badly. However, the company managed to cut costs even faster and thus reported an operating profit before an asset impairment charge.

Meanwhile, free cash flow ("FCF") came in at about $190 million. That's an impressive turnaround from negative FCF of roughly $115 million in the same quarter a year ago.

This chart shows GameStop's operating cash flow, capital expenditures ("capex"), and FCF for each quarter over the past five years:

Importantly, the company has now generated positive and growing FCF over the past four quarters. It's putting on a clinic in how to manage a business in terminal decline, milking it for cash.

Whether pivoting to buying bitcoin is the right move is another question...

In its earnings release, GameStop said it "purchased 4,710 Bitcoin between May 3, 2025 and June 10, 2025 for cash" – which is worth more than $500 million at recent prices.

Here's a Wall Street Journal article from earlier this week with more details: GameStop Swings to Profit, Sales of Collectibles Up 54%. Excerpt:

Shares of the original meme stock spiked in late May after the company disclosed it had purchased 4,710 bitcoin, which was equivalent to about half a billion dollars at the time. Gamestop bought the cryptocurrency starting on May 3, the last day of its first quarter, so the investment didn't show up in the quarter's results. Gamestop's board earlier this year approved an update to its investment policy to add bitcoin as a treasury-reserve asset.

The move follows in the footsteps of Microstrategy, which started building a bitcoin reserve and is now the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency. Other companies have been following Microstrategy's lead, including solar-energy distributor Solarbank, which said last week it was opening an account with Coinbase to house the bitcoin reserve it planned to build.

But GameStop isn't stopping there...

After the close yesterday, the company announced that it was issuing as much as $2 billion in convertible notes – debt that gives bondholders the right to convert their holding to stock if it hits a certain price – in order to buy more bitcoin.

The stock dropped as much as 20% earlier this morning because of the potential dilution from this deal and questions about issuing debt to buy bitcoin near its all-time high.

My opinion hasn't changed from what I concluded on March 28:

I continue to think this stock is neither a good long nor short... But it's fascinating to watch!

2) Regular readers also know that I think the advent of self-driving cars and taxis is revolutionary...

That's why I've been following developments closely (most recently in my June 2 e-mail).

Waymo, owned by Alphabet (GOOGL), is the clear leader. But the more competition, the better... so I'm glad to see that Tesla (TSLA) is in the process of launching its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.

This article from yesterday in the WSJ has more details: Musk Says Tesla Robotaxi Launch Tentatively Planned for June 22. Excerpt:

Tesla CEO Elon Musk expects the company to launch its long-anticipated robotaxi service tentatively on June 22 in Austin, though he said that the date could shift because Tesla is being "super paranoid about safety."

In a flurry of posts on X late Tuesday, Musk hyped up the launch as a vital step toward Tesla's autonomous future. The first use of Tesla's robotaxis will start with 10 to 20 Model Ys driving on public roads without a human behind the wheel, before expanding the size of the service based on how well the technology performs, Musk has said.

And check out the short video in this post on social platform X from earlier this week of a robotaxis on the streets of Austin:

3) Another technology I'm very excited about is nuclear power...

Here's a new WSJ article about a scrappy private company that's representative of the incredible innovation and entrepreneurship I'm seeing in the sector: The Audacious Reboot of America's Nuclear Energy Program. Excerpt:

Oak Ridge, Tenn., earned the moniker "Atomic City" as a base for the Manhattan Project and later as a center of the U.S. nuclear power program.

Now, it is home to a group of scientists at Standard Nuclear who are trying – against all odds – to power up America's next nuclear era.

They are developing meltdown-resistant fuel for a smaller, safer type of nuclear reactor that has become an imperative for meeting modern energy needs, including both strategic and industrial independence from China and the rise of power-hungry artificial intelligence.

So strong was their conviction in the breakthrough that more than 40 employees of the startup's precursor worked for about eight months with little or no pay. Some sold their homes or downsized, juggling mortgages and daycare expenses, convinced the departure of a single scientist would risk sacrificing their progress.

The industry got a big boost last month thanks to four executive orders President Donald Trump signed. Here's a recent New York Times article with details: Trump Orders Faster Build-Out of Nuclear Power Plants. Excerpt:

One order directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the nation's independent safety regulator, to streamline its rules and to take no more than 18 months to approve applications for new reactors. The order also urges the agency to consider lowering its safety limits for radiation exposure, saying that current rules go beyond what is needed to protect human health.

Another order directs the Energy and Defense departments to explore siting reactors on federal lands and military bases, possibly alongside new data centers. That could allow the agencies to bypass the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and develop their own, faster processes for approving reactors.

The Trump administration also set a goal of quadrupling the size of the nation's fleet of nuclear power plants, from nearly 100 gigawatts of electric capacity today to 400 gigawatts by 2050. One gigawatt is enough to power nearly 1 million homes.

I explained why I'm so bullish on the sector and highlighted a handful of my favorite stocks in a 14-minute interview I did last month with MarketBeat about the nuclear sector, which you can watch here on YouTube.

Of course, the big story in nuclear energy that my team and I have been following is about "Amazon Helios"...

When people usually talk about nuclear energy, they're talking about fission – which splits atoms. It's an amazingly safe, reliable, and clean power source.

But in this case, I'm more interested in nuclear fusion. This process combines atoms to form a single, heavier one – while releasing huge amounts of energy.

According to MIT, fusion can create 20 million to 100 million times more energy than coal, oil, or natural gas. That's incredible.

And right now, one company is at the center of it all. Get the details in my special presentation on Amazon Helios right here.

Best regards,

Whitney

P.S. I welcome your feedback – send me an e-mail by clicking here.