A person enters a Bed Bath & Beyond store on October 01, 2021 in the Tribeca neighborhood in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Bed Bath & Beyond shares soared more than 80% in extended trading Tuesday after the company put out a flurry of press releases.
Among the news the company announced was the launch of a digital marketplace that will sell goods from third-parties, in addition to a tie-up with grocery chain Kroger. Bed Bath & Beyond also said its stock buyback program was ahead of schedule and it unveiled some executive leadership changes.
But the spike after the market’s close was likely fueled by a so-called short squeeze where hedge funds that had bet against the stock were forced to scramble and buy back their shares to cut their losses.
Going into the news, Bed Bath & Beyond was among the most heavily shorted stocks in the country with 27% of its shares available for trading sold short. That’s the third-highest among the 1,500 largest U.S. stocks, according to FactSet.
There was also a huge jump in mentions on Reddit after the bell, according to sentiment tracker Swaggy Stocks. Earlier this year, Bed Bath & Beyond was a meme crowd favorite, joining the likes of GameStop and AMC Entertainment, before falling out of favor as the retail trading movement lost some momentum.
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