What Happened?

Shares of plant-based protein company Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) jumped 69.6% in the morning session after the stock's positive momentum continued following its inclusion in a meme stock ETF, which fueled a significant short squeeze. 

With a large portion of its shares being shorted by investors betting on a price decline, the sudden buying pressure created a massive short squeeze, forcing short sellers to buy back shares and driving the price even higher.

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What Is The Market Telling Us

Beyond Meat’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 59 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Beyond Meat and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was about 21 hours ago when the stock gained 129% on the news that the company announced it was expanding its partnership with Walmart, amid a strong retail frenzy in recent trading sessions which triggered a short squeeze. 

The deal also made Walmart one of the first national retailers to offer the new Beyond Burger 6-Pack in a convenient value format. This positive business update added significant fuel to a rally that had been building in previous sessions, driven by heavy interest from retail investors and a massive short squeeze. With reports indicating that over half of the company's available shares were sold short, investors who had bet against the stock were forced to buy shares to cover their positions as the price climbed. This buying pressure, combined with a huge spike in trading volume, sent the stock soaring.

Beyond Meat is up 11.9% since the beginning of the year, but at $4.31 per share, it is still trading 34.5% below its 52-week high of $6.58 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Beyond Meat’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $25.03.

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