Stock Market Today, June 24: Wendy's Soars As it Becomes the Latest Meme Stock, Names Steve Cirulis New CFO
The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN), a hamburger-focused quick-service restaurant franchisor, closed at $7.87, up 25.64%. Shares jumped after the company became the latest popular memes tock on the WallStreetBets Reddit community. Wendy’s also named Steve Cirulis as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer last night after hours. Investors are watching whether the leadership change supports turnaround hopes. Trading volume reached 202.2M shares, coming in about 1,483% above its three-month average of 12.8M shares.
How the markets moved today
The S&P 500 fell 0.08% to 7,360, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.43% to 25,477. Within quick-service restaurant franchising and operations, McDonald's closed at $273.94, up 0.84%, and Yum! Brands finished at $153.02, up 0.94%, offering a steadier read on sector sentiment than Wendy's meme-driven surge.
What this means for investors
In a somewhat similar fashion to the original memestock, GameStop, the WallStreetBets community is rallying around Wendy’s and its deeply discounted share price. Down 66% over the last five years, Wendy’s currently has a hefty short interest of roughly 27%, and the WallStreetBets community is hoping to catch these sellers in a short squeeze.
Though Wendy’s growth story may be over, it remains profitable and trades with an EV/EBITDA ratio of 9.9 and at just 4.7 times cash from operations. New CFO and Chief Strategy Officer Steve Cirulis -- a fast-food veteran who helped turn around beleaguered Potbelly most recently -- could provide intriguing turnaround potential for the longer-term as well, making Wendy’s an interesting, albeit likely uber-volatile stock to watch going forward.
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Josh Kohn-Lindquist has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Yum! Brands and recommends the following options: long January 2028 $320 calls on McDonald's and short January 2028 $340 calls on McDonald's. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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