Sign up for smart news, insights, and analysis on the biggest financial stories of the day.
Tupperware containers can keep food fresh for days here on Earth. But not even they can keep the company’s stock price from perishing in the cold, harsh atmosphere of outer space.
That far-out question is somehow relevant this week, thanks to so-called memestock traders — those infamous online amateurs famous for betting big on failing companies like AMC Theaters and Gamestop. Now, the group has decided to send the eponymous food storage company’s long-dismal share price, in memestock parlance, to the moon.
The Leftovers
In this instance, to the moon means a mouthwatering 800% pop in share price in the past two weeks. Online day-traders chattering on message board Stocktwits and Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets have rallied to purchase over $15 million worth of Tupperware shares since July 21, sending its market value to nearly $225 million from $40 million, according to Vanda Securities data, while its share price has jumped from under a dollar to around $5.40 on Tuesday.
For Tupperware, the bizarre digital affection couldn’t have come at a better time:
- Aside from a brief pandemic-era spike, Tupperware has been less than fresh over the past two years. Times have been so tough, the company ditched its long-held direct-to-consumer sales strategy and forged retail partnerships last year.
- But the pivot didn’t help much. In March, it was forced to restate prior results after finding material weakness in its internal controls, by April it announced “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue,” and at the end of June it was forced to negotiate a waiver agreement with some of its creditors, while still forecasting an inability to fully service its July interest payments.
Short-Sighted: As per usual when it comes to memestocks, short-sellers were caught holding the short end of the stick. Tupperware’s gains have cost short-sellers some $27 million in paper losses in the past few weeks, according to data from analytics firm S3 Partners reported by Bloomberg. Tupperware reports earnings on Wednesday, and, prior to the surge, many investors thought it was headed for bankruptcy. On Tuesday, roughly 30% of tradable shares were currently sold short, marking a slight uptick in bets against the company since the stock’s lowest point in July — meaning that Wall Street is betting that what goes up must come down, and, this time, the memestock short-squeezers could become the squeezed.