2021 has been the year of the meme stock. Meme stocks have risen higher and faster than many of the traditional big name high flyers this year. These stocks are being pushed higher by traders on social media. Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN) and Palantir Technologies (PLTR) are two stocks that have recently generated a lot of attention, but which is a better buy? Read more to find out.While 2020 was quite a year for electric vehicle stocks, 2021 is shaping up to be a year whose headlines are dominated by meme stocks. Meme stocks became popular earlier this year as retail investors sent the price of struggling video game retailer GameStop (NYSE:GME) to ridiculous heights. GME went from $19.95 on January 12th to $325 on January 29th.
This 1,529% gain over two weeks was attributed to traders in Reddit's r/wallstreetbets subreddit pumping up the stock to create a short squeeze. This was repeated for a few more stocks before things quieted down for a little while. But meme stocks have recently made a comeback, with shares of companies like Blackberry (TSX:BB) AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC) soaring. These stocks are not rising due to company performance; instead their gains result from social media attention, hence the name meme.
Even though major companies like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) had stellar earnings results, their price performance is being dwarfed by these speculative stocks. So, are these companies even worth investing in? I'd like to answer that question by highlighting two stocks that have recently generated strong returns due to mentions in Reddit: Wendy's Company (WEN) and Palantir Technologies (PLTR).