What happened
It's been a rough couple of weeks for Diebold Nixdorf (DBD +0.00%) shareholders. After a disappointing earnings report that included the company saying it may have trouble with its debt load, and a subsequent wave of short-selling, Diebold plunged by a staggering 65% during the first nine days of August.
On Monday, however, shareholders finally got a bit of hopeful news with CNBC reporting that the company has hired advisors to pursue a sale of itself.
Separately, Diebold released a statement updating its shareholders about its debt issues that had a pretty positive tone. According to the statement, Diebold "is in constructive and productive discussions with its lenders regarding its future financial flexibility and expects to reach a resolution in the near term."
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
The prospect of a sale combined with some reassurance about the company's debt seems to be putting a temporary stop to investor pessimism. It's also likely that it is causing some of the short-sellers to abandon their positions in fear of a sale of the company at a hefty premium.
Now what
To be clear, a sale of Diebold is far from a sure thing. The report said that no advanced talks have taken place so far. It also said that it's too early to speculate on a potential buyout price.
However, this seems to have shareholders excited about the possibility, and has caused a major jump in the stock price (at least for the time being). As of 3 p.m. EDT, Diebold's stock was up by more than 16% on the day.
