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Max Knoblauch1/28/26

Carvana tumbles on report from short seller Gotham City Research

Used car retailer Carvana is down more than 16% on Wednesday, with shares on pace for their worst day since April.

A new report from short seller Gotham City Research, which had teased its publication in a post on X earlier in the day, appears to be dragging shares down. In the report, Gotham alleges Carvana’s 2023-24 earnings were overstated by more than $1 billion. (For perspective, Carvana’s earnings in those two years totaled just over $550 million.)

Gotham’s report also alleges that Carvana’s earnings are “far more dependent” on auto loan companies DriveTime and Bridgecrest than the market currently takes into account and that DriveTime’s subsidies fuel over 73% of Carvana’s earnings before interest and taxes. In its post teasing its findings, Gotham said Carvana would “age as one of the biggest Corporate Scandals of America over time.”

Per the report:

“We see problems with accounting, disclosure, and business practices that will lead to regulatory trouble. At best, we believe CVNA is far less profitable than believed, as a standalone business. At worst, CVNA is more like Tricolor, rather than Amazon. Either way, shares face massive downside risk to the share price.”

Carvana did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Matt Phillips53m

Memory stocks rebound off last weeks losses

Memory stocks Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings rose again Friday, putting these crucial providers of chips for AI inference work on track for big weekly gains after last week’s steep losses following the outbreak of war with Iran.

There’s no obvious trigger for the move higher for these shares this week, other than a bit of a recovery in the AI trade more broadly — AI beneficiaries like IT cable and connections maker Amphenol and custom chip and networking company Marvell Technology clawed back some gains this week — perhaps due Oracle’s earnings earlier, and some mean reversion to boot.

Micron is due to report earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday, with the company catching a couple price target hikes this week, including one from Wedbush on Friday.

Sandisk is something of a different story, as its enormous gains over the last 12 months — roughly 1,200% — have made it a momentum play beloved by the retail crowd.

It was up about 20% this week at around 11 a.m. ET. And its nearly 170% gain this year keeps the stock on top of the S&P 500, in terms of price performance.

The S&P 500’s internals are awful... while it’s still less than 5% from its record closing high

The breadth of negative momentum within the index’s constituents is even worse than at the tariff-induced market bottom in April 2025.

Illustration - Endometriosis

These two charts show how the Iran war is causing markets to price in a longer oil supply crunch

The rise of third-month Brent futures relative to front-month this week is unprecedented since at least 1989.

Recycling In The UK

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Matt Phillips4h

Bitcoin bounce lifts crypto stocks

Crypto stocks rose in early Friday trading, riding a rebound in the price of bitcoin to more than $73,000.

Coinbase, Strategy, Circle, and MARA Holdings were among the biggest gainers of that cadre. Their end-of-the-week bounce might be getting a bit of extra oomph from the fact that companies have picked up a fair bit of interest from short sellers in 2026, as bitcoin fell about 15%.

Some of those shorts might be looking to quickly close out positions — which requires buying the stock — ahead of what could be another unpredictable weekend of war.

markets

Max Knoblauch4h

Carvana announces plans for a 5-for-1 stock split, the company’s first

Online car retailer Carvana said on Friday that its board has approved a 5-for-1 stock split, a first for the company.

Carvana shares climbed more than 2% in premarket trading on Friday.

Per the company’s announcement, the move is “designed to ensure that earning and buying whole shares of Carvana stock is within reach for all of its team members.”

Pending stockholder approval, the split will occur after the market closes on May 6.

Carvana stock is down 31% this year following steep drops after its Q4 earnings results last month and a short seller report earlier in the year. Carvana told Sherwood News that the report was “inaccurate and intentionally misleading.”

Carvana Board of Directors Approves 5 for 1 Forward Stock Split

Carvana Board of Directors Approves 5 for 1 Forward Stock Split

Pending stockholder approval, the split will occur after the market closes on May 6.

Carvana stock is down 31% this year following steep drops after its Q4 earnings results last month and a short seller report earlier in the year. Carvana told Sherwood News that the report was “inaccurate and intentionally misleading.”

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