Shares of Tupperware Brands surged 53.1 per cent in premarket trading on Friday, after the kitchen storage container maker finalized a debt restructuring deal, reinvigorating individual investors’ interest in the company.
The Florida-based firm is making an attempt to turn around its business after raising doubts in April about its ability to continue as a going concern as it struggles with slumping sales.
Tupperware said on Thursday it had struck an agreement with its lenders which will help reduce or reallocate about US$150 million of cash interest and fees, and would give it immediate access to a revolving borrowing capacity of about US$21 million.
This Aug. 5, 2011 file photo shows colorful Tupperware products in Bellflower, Calif.
Garrett Cheen/AP file photo
Widely recognized for its bright-colored plastic airtight containers, the company had recently caught retail traders’ attention, which has helped drive a more than 449 per cent share surge over the past three weeks.
Tupperware was the fourth most touted stock on investors-focused social media, stocktwits.com on Friday.
The share gains were reminiscent of eye watering rallies for “meme stocks” including AMC and GameStop, where retail investors would band together on social media and typically focus their speculative bets on companies that were financially struggling and had high short interest.
Analytics firm Ortex estimated 30.8 per cent of Tupperware’s publicly available shares were shorted. Bearish investors have lost US$33 million on paper in the past three weeks, taking their year-to-date losses to US$15.4 million.
Measured by number of trades, Tupperware was the second most actively traded single stock by retail traders over the past week, Peng Cheng, strategist at J.P.Morgan, wrote in a note late Wednesday.
Tupperware held a market value of US$156.56 million as of Thursday’s close, after losing about 63 per cent off its value over the past 12 months.
Other active meme stocks over the past week include Yellow and Nio Inc., Cheng said.