A Kohl’s store in Pleasant Hill, California, US, on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Kohl’s Corp. is expected to release earnings figures on November 26. <\/p>\n
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Shares of Kohl’s<\/a> surged on Tuesday morning in volatile trading that echoed the meme stock rallies of recent years.<\/p>\n The legacy department store’s stock more than doubled from Monday’s close of $10.42 per share, only to see those gains wiped out about a half an hour after markets opened.\u00a0Trading in the stock was temporarily halted at one point Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n Still, shares were trading more than 30% higher by around 11:30 a.m. ET. The stock is on pace for its best day since Jan. 24, 2022, when shares gained 36% after Kohl’s received a takeover offer<\/a> from private equity firm Sycamore Partners.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the trading volume late morning Tuesday was almost 17 times higher than the average over the last 30 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n There were no apparent corporate announcements or major stock ratings to send shares soaring on Tuesday, but Kohl’s has all the markings of a meme stock. It’s a legacy department store that many retail investors grew up shopping at, and it’s heavily shorted, with about 50% of shares outstanding sold short, according to Factset.\u00a0<\/p>\n It has a sprawling retail footprint of over 1,100 stores and has been the subject of takeover offers, activist campaigns and bankruptcy watchlists in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n There’s been recent chatter around Kohl’s stock in the Wall Street Bets forum on Reddit<\/a>, which became popular during the Gamestop<\/a> short squeeze in 2021. Some pointed to it as a potential squeeze candidate given the short interest and its name recognition among retail investors.<\/p>\n When investors flock to a heavily shorted stock, those with short positions may buy more to cover their losses, which can drive the price higher.\u00a0<\/p>\n