Shares of Beyond Meat (BYND +3.23%) were surging for the second day in a row, seemingly on a continuation of yesterday's meme stock and short squeeze rally, and after the company announced expanded distribution at Walmart, the nation's biggest retailer.
As of 1:42 p.m. ET, the stock was up 78.5% and on extraordinarily high volume. Yesterday, it jumped 128%, following a move last week to convert roughly $1 billion in convertible debt into stock, which makes its balance sheet much more stable.
Image source: Beyond Meat.
Beyond Meat gets another shot in the arm
In a press release this morning, Beyond Meat said that Walmart was increasing the availability of select products at more than 2,000 stores nationwide.
Walmart is also one of the first retailers to offer the new Beyond Burger six-pack, and it's adding Beyond Chicken Pieces and Beyond Steak Korean BBQ-Style.
That news seems unlikely to drive the stock to nearly double today, so the momentum from yesterday's short-squeeze rally seems to have continued after the stock gained attention on platforms like Reddit.
Over a billion shares had changed hands by the afternoon, meaning each share of the stock was traded more than once.
NASDAQ: BYND
Key Data Points
What's next for Beyond Meat
No one knows how long this rally will last. Last week's debt conversion added a ton of liquidity into the stock, increasing shares outstanding by nearly five times. Many of those debtholders likely sold their shares as they were eager to get out of the stock.
The Walmart news is a positive sign for Beyond Meat, but it won't save the company on its own. It's still losing money, and its revenue is falling. If that continues, the company will eventually be forced into bankruptcy, and the stock will go to zero.
