• by Wayne Friedman , April 1, 2025

After two days of being a publicly traded company, 11-year-old conservative news and political commentary-focused cable TV network Newsmax witnessed its stock soar over 2,000%.

The stock closed on Tuesday at $233 a share -- up 2,230% over its initial pre-market offering to retail investors at $10 a share.

Analysts believe the draw by investors closely follows in the footsteps of Fox News Channel, the dominant cable TV network, which also has a conservative news focus, and has seen rising viewership and improved advertising revenues since the November 2024 election, when Donald Trump was re-elected to a second term as President.

Fox averages around 3.1 million average prime-time viewers, per Nielsen. Currently, Newsmax averages around 300,000 viewers -- the fourth-highest cable TV news network after CNN (550,000 prime-time viewers).

Amid a soaring stock price -- with little proven financial results or projections -- analysts are already calling Newsmax a “meme” stock.

“It’s similar to DJT [Trump Media & Technology] which traded well north of $100 a share,” says Karen Finerman, co-founder/president of Metropolitan Capital Advisors, on CNBC on Tuesday. Trump Media & Technology closed on Tuesday at $20.26.

A "meme" stock is one that gains a cult-like following on social media, performing on largely unproven financial projections and rumors with higher-than-normal volatility.

Newsmax stock climbed so high at the end of its second day as a publicly traded company that it closed at a higher market capitalization ($29.9 billion) than either Fox Corp. ($25.3 billion) and Warner Bros. Discovery ($25.1 billion).

“This is great for the [Comcast Corp] parent spinoff of CNBC and MSNBC -- SpinCo,” said Dan Nathan, principal of RiskReversal Advisors on CNBC on Tuesday.

Nathan says the valuation is so high Newsmax owners, including founder and CEO Christopher Ruddy, could -- in theory -- “make a bid for SpinCo right now. I’d use my stock.”