By Zaheer Kachwala and Medha Singh
(Reuters) -Shares of conservative news outlet Newsmax soared more than 60% on Tuesday, extending their eye-popping gains a day after a stellar debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
The stock traded at $135, compared with the IPO price of $10, valuing the cable news network at $16.3 billion.
Newsmax’s shares closed with a more-than-eight-fold gain at $83.51 on Monday, partly buoyed by retail interest. The stock remained the top trending ticker on retail investor-focused social media stocktwits.com.
The cable news operator, which raised $75 million in its “mini IPO” last week, is looking to expand its reach following President Donald Trump’s return to the White House earlier this year.
“It’s probably a perfect time for Newsmax to launch, simply because of all the volatility in the political arena currently,” said Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management.
“This was a demonstration that there are more conservative investors than probably the market had anticipated,” he said.
Stocks such as video sharing platform Rumble and Trump Media & Technology Group rallied in the run-up to the presidential election last year as investors banked on Trump’s victory.
About $147 million worth of Newsmax shares changed hands in early trading, topping that of JPMorgan.
Founded in 1998 by Christopher Ruddy, Newsmax started as a digital brand and launched its cable news channel in 2014. It also streams for free on platforms such as its Newsmax app and YouTube.
An expected rebound in the U.S. IPO market has been tempered by the uncertainty caused by Trump’s tariff policy and fears of a prolonged trade war.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala, Medha Singh and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Sriraj Kalluvila)
