Latest news with #Beyond Meat
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Meme stocks pare gains as highly shorted Krispy Kreme, GoPro join the frenzy
July 23 (Reuters) - Investor enthusiasm faded for the latest meme stocks on Wednesday, with shares in heavily shorted Krispy Kreme (DNUT.O), opens new tab and GoPro (GPRO.O), opens new tab closing well below their session highs, while Tuesday's investor darling - department store Kohl's - finished sharply lower. Individual investors have been betting on riskier pockets of the market, including cryptocurrencies and lower-priced consumer-facing stocks, as the broader equity market has soared to record highs recently. Shares of doughnut chain Krispy Kreme, nearly 32% of whose free float has been shorted, ended up 4.6% at $4.32. Earlier the stock hit a session high of $5.73, with a record trading volume of more than 151 million shares. The stock had rallied nearly 27% on Tuesday with 44 million shares changing hands compared with the 5.28 million average for the last 50 days. Earlier on Tuesday, Krispy Kreme was among the top trending stocks on Stocktwits, a retail investor-focused social media platform. Action camera maker GoPro's shares rose 12.4% to $1.54 after earlier hitting $2.37, the highest level since late March 2025. Plant-based meat company Beyond Meat (BYND.O), opens new tab added 1.4% after earlier hitting $4.82, its highest level since December 4. Many individual investors did well by taking risky bets when institutions were selling in April, when equity volatility erupted over uncertainty around U.S. tariff policies, according to Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, which has a high number of retail customers. 'That has given them the financial wherewithal and the psychological temperament to seek out risky situations. They were rewarded handsomely for embracing risk at a very risky time," Sosnick said. "Now they're extending it to search for high-risk situations that have potentially high returns.' With the paring of gains on Wednesday, Sosnick said the staying power of the meme-type rallies seemed to be shrinking. "People realize that there isn't a fundamental reason for these rallies to be occurring. They're simply occurring at the intersection of social media and the stock market," he added. Daniela Sabin Hathorn, senior market analyst at wrote that risks are as stark as the rewards in meme rallies. "These surges are often disconnected from company fundamentals and can reverse violently. Traders who chase momentum without an exit strategy may be caught in painful drawdowns," she said. The current market revived memories of the Reddit-driven meme stock frenzy of 2021, when amateur investors pushed up shares of video-game retailer GameStop (GME.N), opens new tab and cinema chain AMC (AMC.N), opens new tab, burning hedge funds that were on the other side of the trade. Opendoor Technologies (OPEN.O), opens new tab, an e-commerce platform for residential real estate, was among the first stocks involved in the current meme wave. While it is still up almost 330% for July, it lost 20.5% on Wednesday to close at $2.29, a far cry from a July peak of $4.97 - its highest level since August 2023. Some market participants attributed the Opendoor rally to posts last week by EMJ Capital founder and portfolio manager Eric Jackson, who said his hedge fund took a position in Opendoor and projected it would hit $82 in the longer term. "When I first started tweeting about Opendoor last Monday afternoon, I definitely wasn't thinking it was going to be considered a meme stock," Jackson said on Wednesday. Social media platform Reddit's r/WallStreetBets, the 40th largest subreddit with 19 million members, was abuzz with screenshots of bullish bets on Opendoor and Kohl's by amateur traders. Department store Kohl's (KSS.N), opens new tab shares surged 37.6% on Tuesday with the highest daily inflow from mom-and-pop traders in about three years, Vanda Research data showed. But on Wednesday the stock appeared to exemplify the fickle nature of meme stocks with a 16% decline on the day. Online gifts retailer (FLWS.O), opens new tab, with a short interest on 71.66% of its free float, ended up 4.4% after jumping about 27% earlier in the day. According to Ortex research, moves in Beyond Meat and were most susceptible to a short squeeze. A short squeeze occurs when investors who had sold borrowed shares in the hopes of making money from a share price decline are forced to buy shares to close their losing positions. Another notable mover without news announcements on Wednesday was Pineapple Financial , which rallied 70% to $5.95. More than 25 million shares changed hands versus the previous session's volume of less than 1 million shares. The stock hit a session high of $9.53 earlier on Wednesday.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Krispy Kreme and GoPro Just Went Parabolic -- What's Fueling the Meme Stock Madness?
The meme-stock crowd is backand they've found new targets. Shares of GoPro (NASDAQ:GPRO) jumped 46%, Krispy Kreme (NASDAQ:DNUT) soared 28%, and Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) surged 11% at 9.37am today. What sparked the action? Not earnings. Not M&A. Just pure retail momentumdriven by Reddit threads, eye-popping short interest, and a growing wave of speculative options activity. While Kohl's and Opendoor (NASDAQ:OPEN) cooled off after their recent runs, this new batch of names has taken center stage. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 5 Warning Signs with GPRO. According to Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at the moves aren't backed by any notable shifts in fundamentals. Krispy Kreme seems to be the latest addition to the frenzy, she noted, highlighting that the rally came with no significant news to support it. Instead, options activity explodedKrispy Kreme saw more than 100,000 call contracts traded Tuesday, or 71 times its 4-year average. GoPro had its busiest call volume day since 2021, with over 56,000 contracts changing hands. Retail traders on Reddit's WallStreetBets forum are already hunting for the next meme candidate. High short-interest names like Campbell's, Aehr Test Systems, Polaris, and Wendy's are starting to appear in watchlists. As always with this kind of rally, the story is more about psychology than profits. Whether this momentum sticksor flipscould depend on how long social sentiment keeps fueling the fire. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Krispy Kreme, GoPro and Beyond Meat surge as the latest meme stock revival rolls on
The Krispy Kreme logo appears above its trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, May 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) NEW YORK — As the stock market pushes into record territory and some companies trade at lofty levels, investors are once again looking for bargains among some of Wall Street's beaten down companies. The latest so-called meme stocks include doughnut maker Krispy Kreme, camera maker GoPro and plant-based meat maker Beyond Meat. Each company is surging Wednesday. The gains follow sharp jumps recently for department store Kohl's and the online-based real estate company Opendoor Technologies. The companies have been mostly struggling to notch profits. Wall Street defines a meme stock as a stock that gains significant popularity and trading volume, primarily driven by social media hype and online communities, rather than the company's fundamental financial performance. Think GameStop and Blackberry in 2021, and a few subsequent instances. Often, meme stocks are initially the target of 'short sellers,' or investors betting against the stock. If other investors start buying the shares and boost the price, that could prompt the people betting against the stock to buy more shares to cushion their own losses. Sugar rush Krispy Kreme jumped 25 per cent on Wednesday, adding to its 26.7 per cent gain a day earlier. The company has seen several years of falling profits and revenue. Wall Street expects it to post a loss for 2025. During its last earnings update, the company pulled its financial forecast for the year as it reassesses its partnership with McDonald's. Shaky frame GoPro jumped 60 per cent on Wednesday to follow its 41 per cent gain on Tuesday. The company last posted an annual profit in 2022 and revenue has been sliding for several years as it faces more competition in a market for smartphone cameras that it once dominated. Wall Street is forecasting that the company will eke out a slight profit in 2025. 'Beefy' gains Beyond Meat gained 10 per cent on Wednesday and is now up more than 30 per cent for the week. The company has been struggling for years and has yet to notch an annual profit since going public in in 2019. The company warned in its latest earnings update that it is 'experiencing an elevated level of uncertainty' and it pulled its financial forecasts for 2025. Losing momentum Investors who buy now are betting that the momentum will continue, but it can shift suddenly. Kohl's, which operates 1,600 stores across the country, reversed course on Wednesday and slipped about nine per cent, although it is still up about 36 per cent this week. It is wrestling with a number of challenges including a revolving door of CEOs and weak sales. Opendoor Technologies shares also faded, falling 21 per cent and to give back most of this week's gains. The stock nearly tripled last week. The stock's recent gains came as hedge fund manager Eric Jackson touted the stock on X. Opendoor faces a tough housing market, with soaring interest rates and a low supply of homes making purchases and sales difficult for both homebuyers and homeowners. Meme stock history The original meme stock is video game retailer GameStop. In 2021, the company was struggling to survive amid the switch from discs to digital downloads and major investors were betting against the company. Investor Keith Gill, better known as 'Roaring Kitty,' rallied other investors to join him in buying up thousands of GameStop shares, changing the trajectory of the stock. GameStop had been trading under US$5 heading into 2021. The stock is trading around $24.50 on Wednesday. The initial meme stock craze eventually fizzled out. But the frenzy occasionally reignites, as seen the past few years with sudden gains for BlackBerry, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Chewy. It took just four weeks in 2021 for GameStop's stock to go from less than $5 to more than $120. But it has yet to touch that price again. Blackberry quickly jumped from less than $7 to nearly $30 in early 2021, but the gains were shaky and trimmed back within a year. It is now trading at about $4. ___ AP Business Writer Anne D'Innocenzio contributed to this report. Damian J. Troise, The Associated Press
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Highly shorted Krispy Kreme, GoPro surge in latest meme stock frenzy
July 23 (Reuters) - Krispy Kreme (DNUT.O), opens new tab and GoPro (GPRO.O), opens new tab were among the companies riding the latest meme stock rally on Wednesday, as retail traders latched on to the highly shorted names a day after piling into the shares of department store company Kohl's. Individual investors are betting on riskier pockets of the market, including cryptocurrencies, as U.S. stocks soar to record highs on signs of a resilient economy and easing trade tensions. Shares of doughnut chain Krispy Kreme, whose nearly 32% of free float have been shorted, jumped 25% to $5.17, adding to a nearly 27% surge on Tuesday. Action camera maker GoPro soared 62% to a three-month high of $2.20. Plant-based meat company Beyond Meat (BYND.O), opens new tab gained 10.4%. "The common denominator seems to be stocks with high short interest again, sub-dollar stocks and they get moving somehow," said Joe Saluzzi, partner and co-founder at Themis Trading. "The valuations (in U.S. stocks) are certainly at the upper level at this point. It's a market that's had to run and people are excited about it." The rally revived memories of the Reddit-driven meme stock frenzy of 2021 when amateur investors pushed up shares of video-game retailer GameStop (GME.N), opens new tab and cinema chain AMC (AMC.N), opens new tab, burning hedge funds that were on the other side of the trade. Opendoor Technologies (OPEN.O), opens new tab, an e-commerce platform for residential real estate, has soared more than 400% this month and is among the first companies to draw retail interest this time. Some market participants attributed the rally to bullish posts from last week by EMJ Capital portfolio manager Eric Jackson, who said his hedge fund had taken a position in Opendoor, projecting the stock to hit $82 in the longer term. Opendoor was last down 11% at $2.56. EMJ Capital did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for more details on their position in the company. Reddit's r/WallStreetBets, the 40th largest subreddit with 19 million members, was abuzz with screenshots of bullish bets on Opendoor and Kohl's by amateur traders. The growing interest in heavily shorted stocks comes after Kohl's (KSS.N), opens new tab surged 37.6% on Tuesday, with the highest daily inflow from mom-and-pop traders in about three years, Vanda Research data showed. Kohl's fell 6.2% and is now the second most trending ticker on Stocktwits, a retail investor-focused social media platform. Online gifts retailer (FLWS.O), opens new tab, which has a short interest on 71.66% of free float, jumped 23.1%. Moves in Beyond Meat and were most susceptible to a short squeeze, Ortex said. "With both stocks moving higher in premarket, the probability of that dynamic kicking in is rising, especially for BYND, where borrow demand is already high," Ortex's Peter Hillerberg said. A short squeeze occurs when investors who had sold borrowed shares in the hopes of making money from a share price decline are forced to buy shares to close their losing positions. About a quarter of total U.S. stock market orders are attributable to retail traders, data showed.
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Highly shorted Krispy Kreme, GoPro jump as meme stock rally continues
Shares of Krispy Kreme, GoPro and a few other highly shorted U.S. companies jumped before the bell on Wednesday, with their names trending on social media forums a day after retail traders piled into department store company Kohl's. Doughnut chain Krispy Kreme jumped 23 per cent, building on a near 27 per cent surge on Tuesday. About 32.2 per cent of Krispy Kreme's free float was shorted, according to data analytics firm Ortex. Meanwhile, camera maker GoPro rose about 45 per cent to US$2, on track to add to its more than 41 per cent rise in the last session. Plant-based meat company Beyond Meat, which has 38 per cent of its free float in short position, jumped 15.6 per cent. had a short interest of 71.66 per cent of free float, according to Ortex, with the online gifts retailer's shares last up 14.1 per cent. Moves in Beyond Meat and were most susceptible to a short squeeze, Ortex said. 'With both stocks moving higher in premarket, the probability of that dynamic kicking in is rising, especially for BYND, where borrow demand is already high,' Ortex's Peter Hillerberg said. A short squeeze occurs when investors who had sold borrowed shares in the hopes of making money from a share price decline are forced to buy shares to close their losing positions. The growing interest in heavily shorted stocks comes after Kohl's surged 37.6 per cent in volatile trading on Tuesday, with the highest daily inflow from mom-and-pop traders in about three years, according to data from Vanda Research. Kohl's was up 1.8 per cent in choppy trading and is the second most trending ticker on Stocktwits, a retail investor-focused social media platform. Opendoor Technologies, which has risen more than five fold so far this month, was down 5.6 per cent on Wednesday. The meme stock rally had exploded during the pandemic-era lockdowns in 2021, where amateur investors flush with savings and government stimulus felt encouraged to invest in stock markets through platforms that charged low trading fees. They often bought shares of struggling companies, including video-game retailer GameStop and cinema chain AMC, with high short interest, burning hedge funds that were on the other side of the trade. (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar and Shinjini Ganguli)
