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A worker carries a broom past closed stores at the Tanger Outlets in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Tanger shares rose on Thursday.
Angus Mordant / Bloomberg
Tanger Factory Distribution Centers
took a wild ride Thursday, the last hot potato broth caught in a brief squeeze.
The mall operator has a large amount of short interest, currently more than 33% of its shares, according to FactSet. That makes it one of the shortest actions along with
GameStop
(30.2%),
Rocket Cos.
(39.7%), and
GoodRx Holdings
(27.6%), according to MarketWatch data.
Shares of Tanger (ticker: SKT) rose 22% on Thursday morning to hit a 52-week high before stabilizing. By mid-afternoon, they had completely lost strength and were down 5.4%. The stock is up 38% over the past year, compared to a 20% rise in a year in the
S&P 500.
Shopping malls have been among the most oppressed actions during the pandemic, forced to temporarily close locations and restrict the number of shoppers while juggling low-budget tenants facing the same challenges.
Tanger has been a topic on a Reddit forum called WallStreetBets. A post on Wednesday read: “SKT is about to hit its highest point since May 2019 and is the second shortest stock after GME. You know what to do!”
“Let’s blow this up,” the post says. “Help put this action in the spotlight and make it the new GME.”
A spokesperson for Tanger was not immediately available Thursday.
WSB on Reddit is the forum where stock trading enthusiasts share ideas. It’s also a great focus of those researching the run-up to
GameStop
(GME),
AMC Entertainment Holdings
(AMC) and other stocks a few weeks ago in a trading frenzy described as retail investors chasing professional short sellers.
The average rating of the six analysts publishing research on Tanger is underweight, the equivalent of a sell. Full-year 2020 revenue fell 10%, to $ 370 million, according to FactSet.
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