The past two days have seen an interesting market saga play out as a seemingly random blank-check firm saw its shares embark on a wild ride. East Stone Acquisition (NASDAQ:ESSC)hasn’t made many headlines since it agreed to bring China’s JHD Holdings public. However, yesterday saw ESSC stock begin to rise steadily, turning the heads of many investors, only to fall today even more sharply. This has led to plenty of question.
What’s Happening With ESSC Stock
After markets opened today, ESSC stock continued on its growth trajectory. Shares opened at $18.18, and ultimately hit an intraday high of $26.27. However, the good news came to a halt around midday. Then, the stock reversed course, ultimately closing down $13.50. That marks a loss of nearly 27% for the day.
While the stock hadn’t generated much media coverage prior to this week, as it turns out, there was plenty going on behind the scenes. Late last month, the acquisition company submitted an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announcing that out of the previously outstanding 13.8 million ordinary shares, 10.5 million had been redeemed, amounting to roughly 75%.
In addition, late November also saw East Stone Acquisition vote on extending the consummation date for both businesses to Feb. 24 from the previously agreed upon date of Nov. 24.
Why It Matters
After the consummation extension and share redemptions, roughly 3.2 million shares remain. As can be expected, this directly leads to a very low float, making it an ideal squeeze candidate. Many tweets, such as the one below, have touted the company’s gamma squeeze potential.
$ESSC gamma squeeze 👀
— Special Situations 🌐 Newsletter (Jay Singh III) (@SpecialSitsNews) December 13, 2021
Another Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) post noted that ESSC stock was receiving considerable traction on popular digital investment forum r/WallStreetBets, another indicator that it had been earmarked by retail investors. Many users responded to the tweet calling for a bullish play on the stock in a clear attempt to drive shares up.
Since then, though, the dust seems to have settled as shares have plunged. Unlike what we saw from AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) earlier today, social media pushes were not enough to keep a stock in the green all day.
What It Means
It’s easy to see how ESSC stock caught the interest of retail investors. The share redemption pattern that we saw from early investors recently points toward a stock with questionable future, one that Wall Street would be quick to bet against.
While it’s also not surprising that the contrarian investor armies would be driven to work against them by driving the stock up, it would appear that in this case, momentum has at least temporarily faded. This caused ESSC to fall this afternoon. For its fans, the question remains whether it can move back up.
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On the date of publication, Samuel O’Brient 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.
