Retail investors talked up five hot stocks this week (Jan. 2 to Jan. 9) on X and Reddit's r/WallStreetBets, driven by retail hype, AI buzz, and corporate news flow.

GameStop

• GME announced a massive, fully performance-based compensation package for CEO Ryan Cohen on Jan. 7. The board granted him options to purchase up to 171.5 million shares at $20.66 each (potentially worth ~$35 billion if fully vested), with no guaranteed salary, bonuses, or time-based equity—everything is “at-risk” and tied to ambitious milestones like growing the company’s market cap from $9 billion to $100 billion and achieving $10 billion in cumulative EBITDA.

• Some retail investors were seeing GME’s news as a chance to pump up the retail favorite stock.

• The stock had a 52-week range of $19.93 to $35.81, trading around $20 to $23 per share, as of the publication of this article. It declined by 33.70% over the year and 7.30% in the last six months.

• The stock had a weaker price trend in the short, medium, and long term with a solid growth ranking, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings. Other performance details are available here.

Nvidia

• Some retail investors were betting on NVDA to hit $190 apiece.

• The stock had a 52-week range of $86.63 to $212.19, trading around $184 to $186 per share, as of the publication of this article. It returned 36.15% over the year and 13.61% in the last six months.

• Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings showed that the stock had a stronger price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a strong quality score. Additional performance details are available here.

Alphabet

• Some retail investors seemed wary of taking a position in GOOG at these levels.

• The stock had a 52-week range of $142.66 to $330.54, trading around $329 to $330 per share, as of the publication of this article. It was up by 68.77% over the year and 83.50% over the last six months.

• It maintains a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor value score, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings. Additional performance details are available here.

Tesla

• Some retail investors were confident that TSLA would rebound.

• The stock had a 52-week range of $214.25 to $498.82, trading around $435 to $436 per share, as of the publication of this article. It rose 10.40% over the year and 47.29% over the last six months.

• The stock had a stronger price trend in the medium and long terms but a weak trend in the short term, with a moderate quality ranking, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings. Other performance details are available here.

Strategy

• Retail investors who were bullish on MSTR were calling out the bears.

• The stock had a 52-week range of $149.75 to $457.22, trading around $165 to $167 per share, as of the publication of this article. It was down by 49.08% over the year and 59.81% over the last six months.

• According to Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings, it was maintaining a weaker price trend over short, medium, and long terms, with a poor value ranking. Additional performance details are available here.

Retail focus blended meme-driven narrative with earnings outlook and corporate news flow, as the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq largely witnessed mixed market action during the first full week of 2026.

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