Past Meat shares fall 1% as meme rally fizzles

Past Meat shares closed decrease Wednesday, erasing a triple-digit acquire, because the meme inventory rally faltered.

The meals firm recognized for its plant-based burgers and sausages fell 1.1% on Wednesday, after surging 112% at one level within the session. The inventory reached a excessive of $7.69 through the session, after closing Tuesday at $3.62. It ended Wednesday’s session at $3.58.

It is the newest in a unstable week for the corporate. On Monday, the inventory rallied greater than 127% after Roundhill Investments, which develops thematic ETFs, added the identify to its Roundhill Meme Inventory ETF (MEME).

That call appeared to have the added impact of driving a brief squeeze within the inventory, as traders rushed to cowl their positions. In keeping with FactSet knowledge, greater than 63% of the shares obtainable for buying and selling had been offered brief.

On Tuesday, Past Meat soared 146% in its finest day ever, after saying it should develop distribution at Walmart‘s shops.

Shares of Past Meat have been underneath stress for a very long time. After making its public debut in 2019, when the identify soared previous $230 per share, it has since turn out to be a penny inventory. The shares have slid in every of the final 5 years, falling greater than 47% in 2021, 81% in 2022, 27% in 2023, and 57% in 2024. The identify is down greater than 3% in 2025.

The most recent unhealthy information for the inventory got here final week, when shares tumbled greater than 67% to finish the week at simply 65 cents after Past Meat mentioned it has finalized a debt deal.

This week’s comeback, nevertheless, is paying homage to the peak of the pandemic, when retail merchants took on on-line message boards comparable to Reddit’s WallStreetBets to coordinate strikes behind high-risk, aggressive trades.

In 2021, Financial institution of America mentioned Past Meat was a Reddit inventory to observe, although it ended that very same yr with losses.

The return of Past Meat could possibly be the newest sign of a frothy market, one that’s relentlessly climbing greater despite issues round elevated valuations and a doable synthetic intelligence bubble. Certainly, Roundhill shut its meme ETF down at one level due to lack of curiosity. It revived it earlier this month as retail merchants dove again into the bull market.

In response to somebody on WallStreetBets saying they purchased 10,000 shares of Past Meat for $7.50, one commenter wrote earlier Wednesday, “Youre already down 7k, spectacular.”

One other posted: “You understand the economic system is cooked when BYND inventory is making a comeback.”