New meme stock Wendy’s soars more than 25% with trading halted at one point

Wendy’s shares surged on Wednesday, fueled by a burst of retail investor enthusiasm that appears disconnected from the fast-food chain’s latest executive appointment.

The stock climbed more than 42% on heavy volume at one point after Wendy’s disclosed the appointment of former Potbelly executive Steven Cirulis as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer. While management changes can influence investor sentiment, the magnitude of the move suggests other forces may be at play.

Trading was briefly halted by the New York Stock Exchange for volatility shortly after the open. When it resumed, it shot to a high of $8.89 a share. Wendy’s closed up 25.7% at $7.86 a share.

Retail traders have increasingly turned their attention to the burger chain after the shares lost about 36% over the past 12 months. Wendy’s ranked as the second-most mentioned stock across Reddit trading forums over the past 24 hours, according to data tracked by Swaggy Stocks.

Posts circulating on social media have framed Wendy’s as a turnaround and recovery play. On WallStreetBets, one post titled “We need to save Wendy’s” garnered significant engagement. “We need to save Wendy’s before it’s too late,” the user wrote. Other posts framed the fast-food chain as a beaten-down consumer brand that retail investors could rally behind.

Retail investors were on track to post their second-highest day of net buying on record for the stock going back to 2012, according to Vanda. The market data firm said net buying so far on Wednesday is more than 50-times higher than Wendy’s 20-day average.

The surge in online attention reflects previous meme stock episodes like GameStop where retail traders piled into struggling companies with elevated bearish bets against them.

“The setup has clear echoes of the retail-driven squeezes that became a defining feature of markets in 2021,” Vanda wrote to clients on Wednesday. “While not every retail-driven short squeeze is the same, the ingredients look familiar: elevated short interest, a beaten-up consumer name, strong social media engagement and a simple retail narrative around ‘saving Wendy’s.'”

That dynamic could be particularly relevant for Wendy’s. Roughly 23% of the company’s free float is currently sold short, according to S3 Partners, leaving the stock vulnerable to a squeeze if rising prices force bearish investors to cover positions.

Still, Vanda said retail traders tend to display a loyalty to stocks that they have previously rallied around. The firm pointed to GameStop as one example of a stock receiving longer-term support from individual traders.

“Whether Wendy’s develops that type of staying power remains to be seen,” Vanda said. “But our data confirms that today’s surge in WEN has indeed been driven by abnormal retail buying.”

Wendy’s didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

— CNBC’s Alex Harring and Nick Wells contributed reporting.