Conservative media goliath Fox ($FOX) might be up 80% over the past year, but its far-right cable competitor has made those returns look like rookie numbers in just two days. On Monday, NewsmaxNMAX

  exploded from its $10 IPO price, with its stock ascending more than 735% in its debut — and it has shown few signs of abating.

• In its second day of trading,NMAX
  rose to over $201 per share, roughly a 2,000% increase from its IPO price on Monday — making it the latest memestock craze.
• The wild performance comes from a firm that made just $171M in 2024 on a $72M loss — and which has also warned about possible mistakes with its financial reports.

Strange times: Newsmax has climbed the media ladder to become the fourth-most viewed cable network — behind Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. It has grown at such a great clip thanks to the rise of Trump, as well as its parroting of far-right conspiracies, namely about the 2020 election, for which it paid a $40M defamation settlement. Another separate lawsuit is ongoing, which seeks $1.6B in damages. Aside from its often colorful coverage, the company’s new fortunes might not be completely based in reality either — with its $20B valuation far away from the corporation’s fundamentals. Divorced from economic reality, it could be a while before it makes a great buy for long-hold conservative watchers.