Copyright bbc
Beyond Meat shares rose by as much as 112% on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous three trading sessions and briefly boosting its share price above $7. But the rally faded after a volatile day of trading, and the stock ended down roughly 1%, to close at roughly $3.60. Momentum started to build last week, when a Reddit user helped fuel a wave of purchases, drawing comparisons to other rallies of so-called meme stocks such as GameStop and AMC. The gains continued after Roundhill Investments on Monday added the company to the bucket of companies owned by its meme stock ETF, or exchange-traded fund. The move appeared to spark a so-called short squeeze: as the stock price surged, the many investors betting against the company were forced to buy shares to cover their losses. The company also announced a distribution deal with Walmart on Tuesday, further boosting its shares. "This company was essentially being thought of as going out of business not that long ago," said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide. "Getting a positive catalyst like the Walmart deal, which could be transformational with the rebound of demand and getting products in the hands of consumers - that is absolutely the trigger," he added, referring to the stock surge since last Friday. But Mr Hackett cautioned that the Walmart deal to expand distribution "doesn't necessarily fix all the issues". "You're really trading on emotions and technicals, versus fundamentals," Mr Hackett said. The company remains on shaky ground. Its share price remains well below its all-time high of more than $230 in 2019.
