Trump Media, Reddit surge despite questionable profit prospects, taking on the 'meme stock' mantle

Reddit and Trump Media are the first notable social media companies to begin trading publicly in the last five years. They're also, thanks to the rabid reception among investors coupled with the companies' fuzzy profit outlooks, the latest meme stocks.

Meme stocks are typically shares in companies whose underlying business fails to justify a surge in their price. The action is often driven by small investors who for some reason pile into a stock, be it belief that a struggling company can turn itself around, a disdain for so-called short sellers —