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Luke Kawa

Retail traders are pressing bets on potential short squeeze targets, sending 1-800-Flowers and Krispy Kreme soaring

Spurred by the parabolic surge in shares of Beyond Meat in recent sessions, traders are aggressively looking for potential short squeeze targets with a number of buyer’s binges in the works.

1-800-Flowers.com spiked double digits late in Tuesday’s session, with the gains coming on the heels of a since deleted tweet from a prominent social media account calling attention to a company with high short interest, high insider ownership, and low near-term debt — without even mentioning its name or ticker! Shares are continuing to build on that advance in the premarket on Wednesday, up 20% as of 7:37 a.m. ET. The company is the most heavily shorted member of the Russell 3000, per exchange data, with about three-quarters of its float sold short.

Krispy Kreme, which enjoyed a run as a meme stock in late July, is also up about 20% in premarket trading and is among the 25 most heavily shorted companies in the Russell 3000. The stock soared on Tuesday as call volumes spiked, and it hasn’t had any major fundamental news to speak of — unless you count the announcement of its seasonal “Frankendough Dozen” deal (I don’t).

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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