It looks the there’s a new meme stock in town. Despite there being no good news as of late for the iconic brand Tupperware, shares in the company have surged 350% in just five days. But why? Here’s what you need to know.
- What’s happened? Shares in Tupperware Brands Corporation (stock ticker TUP), the owner of the iconic Tupperware brand, have surged from a low of around 71 cents per share last Friday morning to a closing high of $2.97 yesterday. That’s a rise of 350%, and yesterday alone saw TUP shares surge over 56%.
- Why are TUP shares surging? That’s what market watchers have been asking themselves, too. There is no underlying fundamental reason why TUP shares should have gone up so much in five days—especially when the company is facing severe financial problems. As Quartz notes, those problems include the company hiring an investment bank in May to help it “explore strategic alternatives.” That came after the company warned this past April that it could go out of business. Reuters and others have concluded that TUP’s recent rise is down to it being the latest meme stock.
- What is a meme stock? Meme stocks are shares of beleaguered companies that become popular with retail investors despite fundamentals that don’t support buying into them. Meme stocks became popular during the pandemic when there was a rise in new retail investors during lockdowns. The most popular meme stocks have probably been movie theater chain AMC and GameStop. Embattled retailer Bed Bath & Beyond also hit meme-stock territory before ultimately filing for bankruptcy.
- So why is TUP the new meme stock? No one can say for sure. Maybe a bunch of retail investors on some web forum decided it would be, so they started buying in, and the uplift of a clearly troubled stock caused other meme stock enthusiasts to buy in, too. Or, as Quartz theorizes, AMC had a share rally on Monday due to a court ruling that blocked a plan that would dilute AMC shares. This could have caused a rise in interest in meme stocks and thus a new one was born.
- Anything else I should know? As of the time of this writing, TUP shares are up almost another 9% to $3.23 in premarket trading. That’s in addition to their 56% rise yesterday. But despite its 350% price surge in the past week, TUP shares are still down from their 2023 highs of around $4.77 in January. And back in August 2022, TUP shares were much higher—trading just above $12 per share.
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