Don’t look now, but meme stock mania appears to be back with a vengeance this week.
This time around, Beyond Meat, Inc. (Nasdaq: BYND) and Krispy Kreme, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNUT) are the two main stocks getting all the attention from meme investors. Here’s what you need to know.
Beyond Meat shares skyrocket again
On Monday, Fast Company reported on the surging share price of Beyond Meat, the producer of plant-based meat alternatives. The company started the trading week by enjoying a stock price surge of more than 67% in premarket trading that day.
But far from any change in the company’s financial fundamentals, what seemed to be driving shares higher were short sellers and meme stock enthusiasts.
Indeed, Beyond Meat’s business has been struggling in recent years as consumers have turned away from plant-based meat alternatives.
More recently, Beyond Meat announced that its creditors had agreed to a debt swap, which will result in the issuance of 316 million new BYND shares, thereby diluting existing shares.
But a struggling company in penny stock territory can be red meat to meme investors. For much of the past week, meme traders on Reddit and elsewhere have been pumping up the stock—and it appears to be working.
Yesterday, Beyond Meat shares rose a staggering 146% to close at $3.62 per share. And today in premarket trading, as of the time of this writing, BYND shares are up another 103% to $7.37.
That puts Beyond Meat shares at a price they have not seen since 2024.
It also puts Beyond Meat’s shares firmly in the green for this year. The stock began 2025 at around $4 per share, but that price had fallen to as low as 50 cents per share just last week, before meme stock traders decided to take a bite.
One other contributing factor to Beyond Meat’s surge this week is that, as CNBC notes, the stock was added to Roundhill Investment’s Meme Stock ETF on Monday, cementing its place in the meme stock pantheon.
Meme stock traders want dessert, too
Krispy Kreme’s stock is also seeing some meme stock action this week. DNUT shares rose more than 13% yesterday to $3.71, and as of the time of this writing, in premarket trading this morning, the company’s shares are up another 40% to $5.23 apiece.
While those gains are a far cry from the ones BYND shares are experiencing, DNUT shares have more experience in the meme stock arena. Meme stock investors heavily traded DNUT shares earlier this year.
Other factors that may be impacting interest in Krispy Kreme’s stock include the company’s recent international expansion in Spain, with additional countries, Brazil and Uzbekistan, planned before the end of the year.
Investors likely hope that this expansion can help offset domestic sales issues.
Still, despite its recent gains, DNUT shares remain significantly down from where they were at the beginning of this year. In January, the stock traded at more than $9.80 apiece. And as of yesterday’s close, DNUT shares have fallen more than 67% over the past 12 months.