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Key Takeaways
- Another meme stock frenzy is underway, sparking massive moves for shares of Beyond Meat and Krispy Kreme.
- Beyond Meat’s stock price more than doubled Wednesday morning, touching its highest level in more than a year, before giving back most of those gains in the afternoon.
- Shares of Krispy Kreme, the beaten-down maker of sweet treats, have soared the past two days.
If you’re old enough to remember when shares of Beyond Meat traded for under a buck apiece, read on. (It was earlier this week.)
Those days seem quaint now, with the stock moving as high as $7.69 this morning—its highest level since August of last year and up about 1,400% from its closing low this year of 52 cents, set last Thursday. (The stock had given back most of its early-session gains by Wednesday afternoon, displaying the volatility that is typical of meme plays, and was trading at $3.90 recently.)
Beyond (BYND) seems to be the meme stock of the moment, though others are vying for the pantheon: Krispy Kreme (DNUT), for example, which at 2025 intraday lows of $2.50 was down 75% for the year as of June, is now trading some 65% above those prices. Both stocks remain well off their historical highs.
Grabbing at a lightning bolt is no easy feat. JPMorgan analysts tapped both of those companies as compelling short ideas earlier this month, citing “eroding market share in a declining category” in Beyond’s case and and an “overburdened balance sheet” in Krispy Kreme’s.
Why This Matters to Investors
The end of a particular meme-stock run can feel as hard to time as its beginning. In the meantime, they’re a signal of investor appetite for the possibility of quick action on stocks that might be lightly traded otherwise. The dramatic recent gains in shares of Beyond Meat and Krispy Kreme are just the latest examples.
Some news around the stocks has likely helped drive or sustain momentum. On Monday, Roundhill added Beyond to its Meme Stock ETF (MEME), launched in early October. (Other names in the ETF include OpenDoor (DOOR) and Plug Power (PLUG); its price is roughly flat since it arrived.) Beyond announced wider availability in Walmart (WMT) stores earlier this week. And Krispy Kreme has stepped up its overseas expansion plans.
But the dramatic short-term move in stocks like these also signals a continued investor willingness to take fliers on companies they think others can get behind—whether driven by the belief that a fallen stock will rebound, convincing arguments for a turnaround, or the possibility of a short squeeze, where people who bet against the shares are forced to buy them to stem losses.
Krispy Kreme and Beyond have the added attraction of widely known brand names, a commonality among some meme stocks. Knowing where meme traders might turn their attentions next can be tricky to say the least—and their brand of trading may fall out of fashion—but for now, there’s sizzle to be had.
