Wall Street had the Monday blues to start the week, with major market indexes moving lower after a strong advance over the past several weeks. Investors have been pleased with the economic data that has come out lately, but they still have concerns about what the impact of macroeconomic pressures might be on companies in various sectors. Shortly after the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.56%) was down 149 points to 33,612. The S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.88%) fell 19 points to 4,261, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -2.05%) gave up 29 points to 13,018.
Meme stocks have led the charge higher in recent weeks, and Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) has been one of the favorites over the past several trading sessions. Its stock rose again on Monday morning, but there's another company that had even better news to justify a larger boost to its stock price. Below, you'll learn more about the meme stock and the biotechnology company that's leaving even Bed Bath & Beyond in the dust this morning.
Going beyond
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond were up another 15% early Monday, adding to a 22% gain from Friday's trading session. The stock has tripled in just the past two weeks, and individual investors appear to have jumped back on the bandwagon for the home goods retailer.
Bed Bath & Beyond hit rock bottom from a fundamental standpoint when it announced its fiscal first-quarter financial report at the end of June. The report for the period ending May 28 showed continuing weakness across the board, with revenue falling 25% on a 23% drop in comparable sales. Gross margin plunged, and adjusted losses ballooned to $2.83 per share, reversing a modest profit in the year-ago period. The news was bad enough to prompt the replacement of Mark Tritton, with Sue Gove stepping in as interim CEO.
Little has changed with the retailer's fundamental outlook, but Bed Bath & Beyond's stock has been a favorite of individual investors over the past year and a half. As one of many meme stocks, the home goods retailer's stock has been volatile, as groups of investors vie against the many institutions that have sold Bed Bath & Beyond's stock short.
Investors will need to watch as the key holiday shopping season approaches. Gove has the opportunity to succeed where Tritton failed with his turnaround efforts, but inflation, supply chain pressures, and other challenges will make it even more difficult for the company.
Viridian comes up green
Yet the big winner on Monday morning was Viridian Therapeutics (VRDN -3.69%). The small biotech company announced promising results in key trials that could boost its prospects dramatically, and the stock jumped 33% in response.
As part of its second-quarter financial report, Viridian said that its VRDN-001 treatment for thyroid eye disease showed several desirable characteristics. The phase 1/2 clinical trial showed meaningful improvement after six weeks across all the metrics that the study was examining, and the results were better than in any previous trials. As a result, Viridian expects to accelerate its efforts to get VRDN-001 into advance phase 3 trials.
In addition, Viridian had more good news. Its VRDN-002 treatment showed a substantially extended half-life with positive responses and favorable safety and tolerability profiles. It also unveiled its VRDN-003 candidate, which is intended to extend the half-life of VRDN-001 treatments and could further boost its long-term prospects.
Viridian stock has slumped since its 2014 IPO, but investors are finally growing more hopeful that the company could be close to the breakthrough it needs. If that proves to be the case, then today's gains could be just the beginning of a longer run higher for the company and its share price.
