These Stocks Are More of a Gamble Than An Investment

As with seemingly everything in markets these days, it all ties back to the Reddit Wall Street Bets message board.

No, we’re not talking about GameStop (ticker: GME). Rather, Castor Maritime (CTRM). The dry-bulk commodities transportation firm was trading around 20 cents earlier this year until it was swept up in momentum as users of the message board recommended the company, sending shares as high as $1.95.

The stock was identified as a potential gamble using methodology from recently published research paper—from Alok Kumar of the University of Miami, Houng Nguyen of the University of Danang, and Talis Putnins at the University of Technology Sydney and Stockholm School of Economics. The group proposed looking at the average volume over 30 days compared to market cap as a way of determining what they called lottery stocks. “We assume that gambling in stock markets involves disproportionate amount of trading in lottery-like stocks,” they said.

Castor topped the research group’s list of New York Stock Exchange- and Nasdaq-listed companies that were potential “lottery stocks.” Barron’s added to a filter to the list to look at companies with market caps of at least $500 million and published the list in January.

We ran our version of that screen again this month. Castor Maritime topped our list this time.

Sundial Growers (SNDL), the cannabis stock, and Genius Brands International (GNUS), the children’s media company, appear high on the list too. The top NYSE-listed stock was AMC Entertainment (AMC), the movie chain operator that, with GameStop, became a poster-child for the so-called meme stock revolution.

And what about GameStop itself? It’s not in the top 20, but the methodology does put the video-games retailer high: Out of more than 3,000 stocks, GameStop ranks 128th as a lottery stock.

The stock scoring lowest in the lottery stock rankings was Google owner Alphabet (GOOGL).

Ranking	Company
1.	Castor Maritime
2.	Sundial Growers
3.	Genius Brands International
4.	TherapeuticsMD
5.	Ideanomics
6.	AMC Entertainment
7.	Ocugen
8.	Ebang International Holdings
9.	ElectraMeccanica Vehicles
10.	Workhorse Group
11.	Jiayin Group
12.	Invesco Mortgage Capital
13.	ChromaDex
14.	Transocean
15.	Gevo
16.	Bionano Genomics
17.	Clovis Oncology
18.	Nano Dimension
19.	W&T Offshore
20.	Tellurian
Source: FactSet

A new investment fund targeting celebrity-founded consumer brands has secured US$40 million in commitments and is rapidly approaching its US$50 million fundraising target, signalling growing investor appetite for alternative opportunities beyond traditional asset classes.

The Global Talent Fund, which has a maximum raise of US$100 million, focuses on building and investing in consumer businesses alongside celebrities, athletes, and influential personalities who play an active role as co-founders rather than simply endorsing products.

The strategy is based on the belief that changes in consumer behaviour, particularly the rise of social media and digital engagement, have fundamentally altered how brands are built and scaled.

GTF founding partner Jeremy Hunt, who is helping lead the fund’s strategy, said consumers increasingly feel connected to personalities they follow online and are more willing to support products developed by those individuals.

“Consumers are searching for content to engage with, and when a celebrity they like or follow takes them on the journey of creating a product or brand, they genuinely feel part of that process,” he said.

The fund is targeting high-growth consumer sectors including wellness, hydration, beauty and recovery, areas Hunt believes continue to benefit from strong global demand and ongoing innovation.

Rather than backing celebrity endorsement deals, the fund is seeking businesses where talent is deeply involved in product development, brand creation and long-term growth.

According to Hunt, authenticity remains one of the biggest differentiators between successful celebrity-backed brands and those that fail.

“The consumer can see clearly if someone is simply being paid to promote a product,” he said. “The winners are typically the brands where the celebrity has genuinely helped build the business from the ground up.”

The model has attracted support from several prominent Australian investors and business families, reflecting broader interest in alternative investments with global growth potential.

Hunt said consumer brands offered a level of tangibility that many investors found appealing.

“Consumer brands are what we touch, feel, smell and taste every day,” he said. “Our investors understand the growth potential in the model, but they also want to be part of the journey.”

The fund’s rapid progress towards its fundraising target comes amid growing recognition that celebrity influence, when combined with strong commercial execution and scalable business models, can create significant enterprise value.

With several high-profile celebrity-founded businesses generating billion-dollar exits in recent years, supporters of the strategy believe the opportunity remains in its early stages.

These Stocks Are More of a Gamble Than An Investment

And the no.1 Is a Reddit favourite.

With US$40 million already committed, the Global Talent Fund is attracting investor attention with a strategy focused on building globally scalable consumer brands alongside high-profile talent.