Wendy’s stock jumped more than 20% in premarket trading Wednesday after the fast-food chain named Steve Cirulis as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer, a move that touched off a wave of retail investor enthusiasm centered on the chain’s potential as a…
ort-squeeze target. Wendy’s stock was more traded in premarket hours than chip makers Micron and Intel, with more than 14 million shares changing hands before the opening bell, according to Barron’s
A sustained close at those levels would mark the stock’s best daily performance in over five years. The executive appointment served as a catalyst, but retail traders appeared to be the primary force behind the magnitude of the move. Data from Swaggy Stocks, as cited by CNBC, showed Wendy’s had climbed to second place among all stocks by mention volume on Reddit in the preceding day.
On Stocktwits the ticker hit the top of the trending charts, and WallStreetBets on Reddit was flooded with discussion of the chain. Traders identified Wendy’s as a short-squeeze candidate given the sizable bearish position in the stock. S3 Partners pegged bearish bets against the company at about 23% of available shares.