What: Shares of The Container Store (TCS +0.00%) jumped last Friday, closing out the day with 13% gains, on no particular news.
So what: The Container Store has already lost 46% of its value year to date, and that's after Friday's bounce. The company kicked off the year with a disappointing earnings release, even as the broader market was already tanking and experiencing extreme volatility. Friday's bounce could very well be just a dead cat bounce.
Now what: Stocks that fall so much in such a short period time are more prone to experience this type of bounce. That's especially true for stocks with high short interest. As of the end of January, The Container Store's short interest was 29% of float. We're talking about nearly 4.9 million shares held short, which would take 10 days to cover since volume has fallen off a little. With shares recently falling below $4, there seems like no better time for shorts to buy back their borrowed shares to cash out their gains, which could trigger other shorts to do likewise. It doesn't seem like there are a lot of positive fundamental catalysts on the horizon for The Container Store.
