Bed Bath & Beyond leads meme stock rally as retail punters pile in

Vinco Ventures

17/08/2022 15:53

By Medha Singh
    Aug 17 (Reuters) - Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc  BBBY.O 
jumped 26% on Wednesday, leading a surge in meme stocks again as
individual investors continued to dabble in highly shorted
shares.
    Bed Bath & Beyond has gained in 14 out of the past 15
sessions, helping the home goods company's market value more
than quadruple to over $2 billion. The stock was last trading at
$25.93 after rising up to $30 earlier in the session.
    "It truly is a quality company (but) shares are probably
overvalued in the low teens and it is ridiculously overvalued at
high $20s," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer at
Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
    Retail investors net bought $73.2 million worth of the
company's shares on Tuesday, the highest single-day purchase in
at least five years, according to Vanda Research's retail trade
flows data, as a filing showing activist investor Ryan Cohen's
long-term call option purchases enthused retail punters.
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    Bed Bath & Beyond was the most actively traded single stock
option on Wednesday, far ahead of popular options trades
including Apple Inc  AAPL.O  and Tesla Inc  TSLA.O , data from
Options Clearing Corp showed.
    The resurgence in retail trading comes after a rebound in
U.S. stocks that helped the S&P 500 recoup more than half of the
benchmark's losses since its June low.
    Among others, e-commerce firm Vinco Ventures  BBIG.O 
advanced 36% and meal-kit delivery firm Blue Apron  APRN.N  rose
11.5%.
    About 51% of Bed Bath & Beyond's free float shares are
shorted, while Vinco Ventures and Blue Apron have 17% and 37% of
their public shares under short position respectively, according
to Ortex.
    "You are only seeing meme stocks come back because the stock
market has rebounded. A rising stock market lifts all boats,"
Dollarhide said. 

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