Bed Bath & Beyond jumps 50% to lead ‘bullshit’ rally in meme stock; AMC gains 15%

A group of highly speculative stocks rallied on Wednesday as retail investors pushed meme names higher again in the new year after a dismal 2022.

bed bath behind It rose by a whopping 50% to move the trend in the morning trade on Wednesday. shares Jim Stopthe original star of 2021’s stock meme mania, jumped more than 10%. AMC Entertainment increased by 18%.

The gathering at Bed Bath & Beyond initially started before The news that more employees will be laid off Try to cut costs and stay in business.

The home goods retailer told employees it was eliminating the role of chief shift officer, held by Anu Gupta, on the same day. It reported disappointing third quarter financial results. bed bath behind approaching possible bankruptcy, As its sales fall and losses grow.

“We don’t like power in bullshit stocks like AMC, CVNA, GME, BBBY, PRTY, etc,” said Adam Crisavoli, founder of Vital Knowledge. “It just means that people are chasing blindly.”

During early 2021, a group of retailers joined forces on social media to bid on a large number of shorted shares, resulting in significant selling pressure that hurt the short sellers. These M-equities experienced significant declines in the past year when risk sentiment shifted amid sharp interest rate hikes. GameStop stock is down 50% in 2022, AMC stock is down 75% and Bed Bath & Beyond is down 82%.

While short interest in these names has fallen from its peak after the amazing episode, it’s still well above average.

About 48% of Bed Bath & Beyond’s floating shares are sold short, compared to an average of 5% short shares in a typical US stock, according to S3 Partners. For GameStop, the short interest is 21%, down from more than 100% at the height of stock meme mania in 2021, according to FactSet. A 21% stake in AMC was also sold short.

A short squeeze occurs when the stock jumps sharply higher, it forces the short sellers to buy back the shares in order to limit their losses. The cover of the exposed tends to feed the stock higher more.