What Happened?
Shares of department store chain Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) fell 16.4% in the afternoon session after the stock gave back a significant portion of the previous day's massive gains, which were driven by a meme-stock-style trading frenzy.
The department store retailer's stock had soared 38% the previous day in the absence of any company-specific news, a surge attributed to retail investors on social media platforms targeting the heavily shorted stock. Nearly half of Kohl's available shares were held by short sellers, making it a prime candidate for a "short squeeze," where rising prices force bearish investors to buy shares to cover their positions, further fueling the rally. However, the speculative momentum appeared to wane on Wednesday. The stock's fundamentals remained a point of concern for investors, with the company having previously guided for a decline in same-store sales for fiscal 2025 and facing ongoing leadership uncertainty.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Kohl's? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Kohl’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 35 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Kohl's and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 1 day ago when the stock gained 35.5% on the news that the company exhibited the classic hallmarks of a meme stock. It became apparent that, despite a lack of corporate announcements or major stock ratings, its high short interest and nostalgic appeal to retail investors likely fueled a significant short squeeze. Kohl's had approximately 50% of its outstanding shares sold short, according to FactSet, making it a prime target for coordinated buying by retail investors looking to squeeze out short sellers.
Kohl's is down 14% since the beginning of the year, and at $12.07 per share, it is trading 44.3% below its 52-week high of $21.66 from July 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Kohl’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $547.15.
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