Beyond Meat is following in the footsteps of GameStop and AMC. The plant-based meat substitute manufacturer, which is rated a sell by six of the eight analysts who cover it, has seen its stock price explode, climbing nearly 1,300% in the past four days.
Shares of BYND were up another 72% to $6.24 at the beginning of trading Wednesday, down slightly from a high of $7.33 earlier in the pre-market hours (which represented a 1400% increase). Last Thursday, shares were as low as 52 cents.
Like GameStop, the excitement around Beyond Meat points back to a Dubai-based trader who has been touting the company on social media, posting on Reddit and sharing YouTube videos talking up the stock.
As with the original GameStop stock surge, this appears to be a potential short squeeze. Nearly 64% percent of the company’s available shares had been sold short as of the end of September.
Despite the excitement, Beyond Meat is still a long, long way from its glory days. It debuted at more than $230 per share and has dropped steadily ever since. Even with the recent burst of retail investor activity, it’s still down 8% in the past 12 months.
As with other meme stocks, fundamentals aren’t the focus here, though. $5.9 billion in shares changed hands Tuesday — more than four times the company’s value. Enthusiastic investors are more focused on news that the company’s product will be available at more Walmart stores.
While some see meme stock investing as relatively harmless, it adds another layer of volatility to an already uneasy stock market — and there’s always the risk of this being a pump and dump scheme. That’s something that even Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets acknowledged in posts about Beyond Meats.
“You know the economy is cooked when BYND stock is making a comeback,” wrote one user.