The Meme Stock That Actually Has Real Value
Key Points
In 2025, Kohl's became one of the top meme stocks.
Despite the recent run-up, shares trade at a big discount to the retailer's underlying asset value, in contrast to other past popular "meme kings."
It will probably not be a short squeeze or asset sales that send Kohl's stock back to higher price levels.
- 10 stocks we like better than Kohl's ›
The meme stocks phenomenon has carried on in 2025. However, while there is still some hope and hype surrounding the original "meme kings" like AMC Entertainment and GameStop, new stocks have taken center stage among meme traders.
One such example is Kohl's (NYSE: KSS). However, in contrast to the "meme kings" of the past, which during their meme rallies became divorced from fundamentals, Kohl's still trades at a big discount to its underlying value.
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What makes Kohl's the "value investor's meme stock"
Last summer, when Kohl's share price surged from high single digits to the mid-teens, this was largely the result of meme traders trying to trigger a short squeeze. Despite a high level of short interest, the meme community's power in 2025 is not nearly as strong as it was in 2021.
In short, their efforts failed to send Kohl's "to the moon." Instead, shares have reached price levels that, while likely reflective of the retailer's current profitability, represent a discount to the company's intrinsic value.
Still, don't necessarily count on the "meme" or "value" angles
In 2022, Kohl's received a $60-per-share takeover offer, with its owned real estate playing a big role in this hefty bid. That same year, a private equity firm made a $2 billion bid just for the real estate assets alone.
Per Kohl's latest 10-K annual filing, land and owned buildings have a book value of $9.44 billion. This exceeds Kohl's current enterprise value, which is the sum of its market cap and net debt, by about $1 billion.
The company's current market cap is just $1.76 billion, suggesting that selling off real estate could lead to an outsize windfall compared to the current stock price. That said, much like the meme community's short-squeeze angle, don't count on asset sales serving as the key catalyst for this stock moving forward.
As I've argued recently, the next big move for this stock hinges on the successful execution of an operational turnaround. With this, only buy this stock if you're bullish that this will happen.
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Thomas Niel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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