Investing

Meme Stock Movers for 11/15: Lordstown Motors, Oatly, Sundial, Tesla and More

Paul Ausick

Published: November 15, 2021 9:04 am

The three major market indexes all closed higher Friday, but not enough to prolong an eight-week string of weekly gains. Monday’s premarket session indicated a higher opening, so maybe markets will get back on track this week. Crude oil dropped below $80 a barrel Monday morning, while Bitcoin added more than 2% to trade solidly above $65,000. Yields on 10-year Treasuries traded down by about one basis point.

Stocks in our meme stock watch list split about evenly between winners and losers on Friday. Cannabis grower and products maker Sundial Growers Inc. (NASDAQ: SNDL) topped Friday’s winners, adding nearly 28% to its share price to close at $0.92. After markets closed Thursday, Sundial reported higher than expected quarterly revenue of $14.4 million and a surprise profit of $11.3 million. Sundial also announced that it would begin a C$100 million share buyback plan with a limit on the number of shares repurchased of 102.8 million, about 5% of its issued and outstanding shares. Nearly 900 million shares were traded Friday and the stock traded down about 2% in Monday’s premarket.

Electric pickup truck maker Lordstown Motors Corp. (NASDAQ: RIDE) traded down about 17.5% on Friday, the day’s worst performer. The stock had added about 24% on Thursday but plunged on the company’s announcement that deliveries of its Endurance pickup would slip into the third quarter of next year. The stock traded up by less than 1% in Monday’s early trading.

When alternative dairy products maker Oatly Group AB (NASDAQ: OTLY) reported quarterly results Monday morning, the company beat the estimated loss estimate, but it missed on revenue and guided full-year revenue lower than the consensus estimate. The stock closed up 4.6% on Friday but traded down about 14.5% in Monday’s premarket.

Investors remain divided over the meaning of Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk’s stock sales. Some (bears) argue that insiders don’t sell stocks they think are going to go up in value. Thus, Tesla stock is at a peak now and selling is the better choice. Others (bulls, among them) argue that insiders sell for all kinds of reasons but only buy when they believe the share price will rise.

Musk is presumably selling in order to reduce his tax hit and to exercise expiring options. If he were selling because he believes Tesla’s stock is at its peak, why exercise the options? The odds favor a tax-related reason for Musk’s sales. In any event, Tesla stock closed down about 2.8% on Friday and traded down about 2.2% more in Monday’s premarket.

This week’s short squeeze ranking is out from Fintel. The stock most likely to get squeezed this week is Chinese steelmaker Huadi International. The next four are small caps that have market caps of less than $55 million. Number 6 is Progenity Inc. (NASDAQ: PROG), which had held down the top spot for the previous two weeks. In a comment on the stock, Fintel noted that “volume in the last week has faded, which suggests that the upward price momentum might be sputtering.”

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