Meme stock Tupperware jumps as debt restructuring deal fuels retail frenzy

Tupperware Brands

04/08/2023 11:33

Aug 4 (Reuters) - Shares of Tupperware Brands  TUP.N 
surged 53.1% in premarket trading on Friday, after the kitchen
storage container maker finalized a debt restructuring deal,
reinvigorating individual investors' interest in the company.
    The Florida-based firm is making an attempt to turn around
its business after raising doubts in April about its ability to
continue as a going concern as it struggles with slumping sales.
    Tupperware said on Thursday it had struck an agreement with
its lenders which will help reduce or reallocate about $150
million of cash interest and fees, and would give it immediate
access to a revolving borrowing capacity of about $21 million.
    Widely recognized for its bright-colored plastic airtight
containers, the company had recently caught retail traders'
attention, which has helped drive a more than 449% share surge
over the past three weeks.
    Tupperware was the fourth most touted stock on
investors-focused social media, stocktwits.com on Friday.
    The share gains were reminiscent of eye watering rallies for
"meme stocks" including AMC  AMC.N  and GameStop  GME.N , where
retail investors would band together on social media and
typically focus their speculative bets on companies that were
financially struggling and had high short interest.
    Analytics firm Ortex estimated 30.8% of Tupperware's
publicly available shares were shorted. Bearish investors have
lost $33 million on paper in the past three weeks, taking their
year-to-date losses to $15.4 million.
    Measured by number of trades, Tupperware was the second most
actively traded single stock by retail traders over the past
week, Peng Cheng, strategist at J.P.Morgan, wrote in a note late
Wednesday. 
    Tupperware held a market value of $156.56 million as of
Thursday's close, after losing about 63% off its value over the
past 12 months.
    Other active meme stocks over the past week include Yellow
 YELL.O  and Nio Inc  NIO.O , Cheng said.
    

 (Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna
Chandra Eluri)
 ((Medha.Singh@thomsonreuters.com; +91 80 6210 0592; Twitter: https://twitter.com/medhasinghs;))