Clean Energy
Source: Clean Energy
A new day means new targets for the retail trading crowd.
Shares of Clean Energy Fuels surged 31.5% to close at $13.02 on Wednesday, coinciding with mentions of the company jumping on internet chat boards.
More than 129.3 million shares of Clean Energy Fuels changed hands Wednesday, compared with a 10-day average volume of roughly 17 million shares traded daily.
Clean Energy Fuels was the second-most discussed name among retail traders in last few hours before the bell Wednesday, according to data from HypeEquity.
However, enthusiasm in some of the meme stocks may be fading, with shares of ContextLogic losing their double-digit gain within an hour after markets opened Wednesday. ContextLogic is known as Wish.com, an e-commerce platform. The stock closed 8.9% lower.
The sudden movement in the renewable natural gas company and e-commerce name follows similar retail trader activity in stocks including AMC, GameStop, Wendy’s and BlackBerry. At one point on Tuesday, shares of Clover more than doubled. Clover shares turned lower after an initial pop Wednesday.
On average, Reddit stocks’ rallies lasted nine trading days from the start to their first big drop during the initial frenzy in January, according to a CNBC analysis.
Newport Beach, California-based Clean Energy Fuels has a relatively small float at 66%, meaning the stock can be more easily manipulated. And about 8% of its float is sold short, according to data from FactSet.
ContextLogic has an even smaller portion of its shares available on the open market, with float just 54.5% of the shares outstanding. Roughly 11% of the company’s shares are sold short.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer weighed in on the sudden ascent in Clean Energy Fuels in a tweet Wednesday morning, saying investors should “be careful … the company’s had no real revenue growth and almost no profitability in a decade.”
Cramer later said on CNBC’s “Halftime Report” that the company is “not a meme stock.” He cited a Credit Suisse note referencing Clean Energy Fuels’ deals with Amazon, Total and BP.
“The time has come for this company, and I think it’s just an actual company doing well,” Cramer said.
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