Rite Aid Yells 'Do Over!' on Reverse Split (RAD)

Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) may be hoping that its $0.22 share price won’t be as important down the road as it would have been when the NYSE was actively delisting companies because their shares were under $1.00.  The company’s prior plan for a reverse stock split is being “delayed” now that the NYSE has suspended its minimum price share listing rule.

The good news is that the terms of the split were not set.  It is either a reverse split of “1 for” 10, 15, or 20.  The bad news is that nothing else is changing.  There has been no improvement in the company which would lead us to believe that Rite Aid has a bag of tricks can be used to elevate those shares.

The company said that it now has additional time to become compliant with the rule.  That $1.00 rule may not come back for quite some time because there are so many stocks are trading well under $1.00 that volume would disappear.  But “time and flexibility” may be a stretch.  This stock would have to rise 400+% to get back to $1.00.

JON C. OGG