Bed Bath & Beyond Shares Continue to Trade at High Volumes Despite Bankruptcy
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond are still being heavily traded, even though the popular meme stock is expected to be declared worthless in the coming weeks. According to Nasdaq data, more than 15 million transactions took place on August 16th. The struggling home retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April and has been closing its physical stores in recent months. Despite these challenges, its intellectual property was acquired by Overstock, which relaunched the business as an online-only retailer. However, the original company’s stock is likely to be canceled and shareholders may face a complete loss on their investment.
In July, Bed Bath & Beyond confirmed in its bankruptcy plan that shareholders would not receive any recovery or distribution under the plan. This means that the company’s market cap of $152.25 million essentially amounts to nothing for common shareholders. The company’s confirmation hearing for the plan is scheduled for September 12th, but there have been no positive developments to support the recent surge in stock purchases.
Last year, GameStop Chairman Ryan Cohen suggested that Bed Bath & Beyond’s Buy Buy Baby unit could achieve a billion-dollar valuation, but no qualified bids were made and the unit’s intellectual property assets were eventually acquired by Dream On Me for a much lower price. This suggests that current investors trading the company’s stock may be speculating on doomed prospects.
Bed Bath & Beyond’s stock has plummeted over 91% this year and closed at $0.21 per share on Wednesday. Retail traders who invested in the stock are likely to see their investments disappear. Some experts argue that the rise of meme stock trading reflects a lack of regulation and can have destructive consequences.
Overstock’s Performance
Overstock shares have also experienced a decline, closing at $24.22 per share on Wednesday. However, the stock is still up 25% for the year. The rebranding of Bed Bath & Beyond has resulted in increased downloads of the company’s app, indicating that the brand recognition is working in Overstock’s favor. Analysts believe that the stock may be oversold and that the app download activity is encouraging. As for the original BBBYQ stock, it is likely to become worthless as the company’s debt exceeds its assets.
