Beyond Meat Soars with Additional Meme ETF, Walmart Trades

Beyond Meat It regained some meme mojo status, surging more than 146% on Tuesday, its best day ever.

The food company known for its plant-based meat alternatives is having a remarkable week, with its stock soaring more than 127% on Monday after Roundhill Investments, which develops thematic ETFs, added its name to the Roundhill Meme Stock ETF (MEME).

The rally continued on Tuesday, when Beyond Meat announced a deal with Walmart to expand distribution to more stores across the United States.

The addition of the ETF appears to have sparked a short squeeze among investors who had bet on stocks that needed to cover their positions. More than 63% of tradable stocks are sold short, according to FactSet.

It’s a surprising turnaround for the stock, which has fallen more than 67% in the past week alone after the company announced it had finalized a debt deal. The stock is currently trading at about $2 per share, after closing at 65 cents last week.

In fact, the stock has been under pressure for several years, posting losses in each of the past five years. It has become a penny stock since its 2019 IPO, when it soared past $230 per share.

But this week’s rally is reminiscent of the days when Beyond Meat enjoyed meme stock status among retail traders. After making adjustments on online message boards, they flocked to stocks based more on sentiment than corporate fundamentals.

In 2021, Bank of America named Beyond Meat a Reddit stock. In the same year, it fell more than 47%.

Beyond Meat’s return may also be the latest sign of a frothy market, as investors are flocking to more speculative names despite their lofty valuations, and could signal a market peak.

Roundhill actually shut down the meme ETF at one point due to lack of interest, but resurrected it earlier this month as retail traders jumped back into this relentless bull market.