Meme Stocks Have Grown Up — And They're Making Money For Investors

So-called meme stocks — or buzzworthy tickers investors like to talk up on social media — are making a comeback. But they look very different this time.

Meme stocks have mostly grown up since the last time they were popular. And more important, they’re paying off.

The VanEck Social Sentiment ETF (BUZZ), which holds roughly 75 stocks commonly discussed online, returned 45% this year, says Morningstar Direct. That puts it in the top 10 best-performing U.S. actively traded diversified ETFs this year.

It also means this four-year-old, meme-loaded ETF is outperforming the S&P 500’s 14.3% total return this year. Investors, though, remain skeptical. The fund only holds $111 million in assets.

“While BUZZ is having a great year, the ETF remains largely unknown to investors,” said Todd Rosenbluth, director of research at TMX VettaFi.

What’s A Meme Stock Now?

Following the meme stock crash of a few years ago, the types of companies being bandied about has changed a bit.

Yes, you’ll find speculative plays in the social sentiment ETF like AST Spacemobile (ASTS), a maker of space satellites. It’s the top holding in VanEck Social Sentiment at nearly 4% of the portfolio. And popular digital security stock Palantir Technologies (PLTR) is in there as well, at 3%.

But you also find giant and profitable companies like Tesla (TSLA) at 3.2% and Apple (AAPL) at 3.1%. Additionally, there’s the less-than-exciting ailing semiconductor firm Intel (INTC) at 3.3%. Shares of Intel are up 55% this year following bailouts from the U.S. government and Nvidia (NVDA).

“The portfolio is a mix of established companies … as well as some companies less likely to be held in many other ETFs,” Rosenbluth said.

Amazingly, struggling video game retailer and originally a quintessential meme stock, GameStop (GME), still shows up in the ETF. But it ranks just ninth in portfolio size at 3%. Shares of GameStop are down 16% this year as consumers opt to simply download games, rather than buying them in a physical store.