After Merger with Support.com, Greenidge Generation Provokes Interest

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Remember SPRT stock? That’s gone now, but no worries. Tech support specialist Support.com is still here – it’s merged with Greenidge Generation (NASDAQ:GREE) and as a result, you can now trade GREE stock instead of SPRT.

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In March, Support.com revealed that it had entered into a definitive merger agreement with Greenidge, “expected to close in Q3 2021.” The tension built up over the following months, until the Sept. 10 shareholder meeting to approve the merger finally happened.

Hooray – the merger deal was approved. So now, Greenidge Generation is tradable and investors get a package deal with GREE stock as they’re getting exposure to two businesses at once.

Whether that’s a good thing or not, is a different question entirely. If you can warm up to the idea of investing in two entirely different market segments, then Greenidge might put some green on your screen.

An Inauspicious Start for GREE Stock

GREE isn’t a $1 or $5 stock, by any means, but it moves like one. By that, I mean it’s quite volatile.

Sept. 21 was just an average day, with no company-specific news for Greenidge Generation. Yet, the share price was down 8% in afternoon trading.

That’s the way it goes with GREE stock, so please keep your position size small with this one.

Why is it so volatile? For one thing, SPRT stock was likely a target of the Reddit short-squeeze mob. Those same social media traders might target Greenidge, too.

Second, the GREE stock price is strongly affected by the movements of Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD). That’s because, as we’ll discuss today, Greenidge Generation is a cryptocurrency mining business.

Now, let’s discuss the price action of the stock. As InvestorPlace contributor Samuel O’Brient reported, Greenidge Generation shares finally started trading on Sept. 16.

Unfortunately, GREE stock plunged 30% on its first day of trading on the Nasdaq Exchange. With that, the stock landed in the low $40’s, and it was all downhill from there.

Have Fun, but Be Cautious

By Sept. 21, the share price was below $30 and falling fast. So, is this a dip-buying opportunity, or just a falling knife to be avoided altogether?

I had a feeling that something like this would happen. Keep in mind, SPRT stock had already gone up hundreds of percentage points, in anticipation of the Greenidge merger.

After the “buy the rumor” phase petered out, the only likely resolution was a “sell the news” phase.

At least now, though, it’s possible to have fun with a very small position in GREE stock.

And, be aware that you’ll mostly be investing in cryptocurrency mining, and not very much in Suppport.com’s tech support business.

As InvestorPlace contributor Tezcan Gecgil explained, each share of SPRT stock entitled the shareholders to 0.115 Greenidge shares. Thus, “we cannot expect Support.com’s business to contribute much to the new entity.”

It’s All About Bitcoin and ESG

Really, then, GREE stock is mostly a stake in the future of Bitcoin mining.

At the same time, it’s also an investment with an ESG (environmental, social and governance) focus.

As the company boasted, Greenidge Generation expected “to be the first publicly traded bitcoin mining company with a wholly-owned power plant.

Furthermore, the company owned an “environmentally-sound” 106-megawatt natural gas plant powering 19 megawatts of mining capacity. That’s a whole lot of throughput, I’ll admit.

Plus, Greenidge expressed its expectation that its mining capacity would reach 85 megawatts by the end of 2022.

I’ll let you decide whether natural gas is “environmentally-sound,” as the company claims it is.

Natural gas is still a fossil fuel and it emits pollution, albeit typically not as much as petroleum or coal does.

The Bottom Line

So, there you have it: an investment involving a small helping of tech support, a heap of crypto mining and a dash of ESG for good measure.

It’s interesting, but not super-safe. GREE stock is the type of investment which could provide huge returns or massive losses.

Either way, feel free to have fun with this newly listed Nasdaq stock. Just please, don’t go crazy and load the boat.

On the date of publication, David Moadel did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

David Moadel has provided compelling content – and crossed the occasional line – on behalf of Motley Fool, Crush the Street, Market Realist, TalkMarkets, TipRanks, Benzinga, and (of course) InvestorPlace.com. He also serves as the chief analyst and market researcher for Portfolio Wealth Global and hosts the popular financial YouTube channel Looking at the Markets.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2021/09/after-merger-with-support-com-gree-stock-provokes-interest/.

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