What a Friday today has been! The meme stock trade appears to be in full swing. And retail investors in high-profile plays such as Express (NYSE:EXPR) and EXPR stock are reaping the benefits of heavy retail buying.
Today’s move of more than 35% in EXPR stock has validated the view by many high-profile investors that Express was due for a squeeze. Indeed, Twitter personality Will Meade called the EXPR squeeze at $2.50. As other Twitter enthusiasts point out, this stock has since tripled from these levels. Accordingly, it’s no surprise this stock is getting a lot of love in the market today from retail traders.
Let’s dive into what’s driving this bullish sentiment in Express right now.
EXPR Stock Surging on Heavy Retail Investor Buying
As an apparel retailer, Express has gotten a lot of attention for its beaten-up valuation of late. Indeed, as the economy reopens from this pandemic, retailers stand to benefit from a surge in consumer activity. Accordingly, Express is a company with its own set of built-in bullish catalyst right now.
That said, some may argue that this catalyst was priced in months ago. Seeing this stock triple in short order appears to be unnatural. And it is.
The short squeeze that retail investors are attempting to orchestrate has been made possible in EXPR stock for a couple key reasons.
First, this is a stock that remains heavily shorted. The company’s short interest stands at around 11% at the time of writing, but was higher previously. Thus, there’s some indication that a squeeze is currently underway with this stock.
Second, EXPR stock trades at a relatively low price per share, attracting retail buyers with small budgets to increase their purchase volumes. Perhaps this is a psychological thing, in the age of brokerage firms allowing partial share purchases. However, this does appear to be a factor driving retail investor interest in certain stocks.
Whether or not this short squeeze can continue much higher than today’s rally remains to be seen. However, given the rather robust momentum we’ve seen in these retail stocks of late, anything’s possible.
On the date of publication, Chris MacDonald did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
