Paramount Skydance Stock Spikes Yet Again. It Could Be More Meme Stock Madness.

Paramount’s stock has climbed more than 50% this year on the back of its merger with Skydance. (Getty Images)

Paramount Skydance was the top performer in the S&P 500 on Thursday and one of the most active stocks in the index, as investors continued to pile into the newly merged company.

Shares, trading under the new ticker PSKY, climbed 14% to $15.97 Thursday. The S&P 500 was down 0.5%.

It wasn’t immediately clear what was driving the surge, though excitement among retail investors might be part of the equation. Paramount and Skydance merged Aug. 7 to form a new company officially called Paramount, a Skydance Corporation. After floundering for its first couple of trading sessions, the stock spiked 37% on Aug. 13 —drawing suspicions of a GameStop-style meme stock craze.

Thursday’s price action will likely add to such speculation.

Paramount stock is now up 45% since the merger closed. On Thursday, it was on pace for its highest close since Dec. 15, 2023, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Thursday’s jump came even as two top House Democrats wrote to Paramount CEO David Ellison, requesting information and documents related to Paramount’s July settlement with President Donald Trump. Trump had sued Paramount’s CBS network, alleging that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with presidential campaign opponent Kamala Harris. Paramount admitted no wrongdoing.

In the letter, Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) alleged that Paramount and Skydance offered payments and free services to Trump in order to secure approval for their merger, citing comments by the president.

Paramount and the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com