Glazed and Confused: Krispy Kreme Joins the Meme Party
Retail traders revive the 2021 playbook as Beyond Meat, Krispy Kreme, and GoPro ignite a fresh wave of meme-stock mania.
In a throwback to the wild trading days of 2021, meme stocks have come roaring back, igniting screens and social feeds across the investing world. Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND), Krispy Kreme (NASDAQ: DNUT), and GoPro (NASDAQ: GPRO) have become the latest darlings of retail traders chasing the next big short squeeze, while traditional investors look on with a mix of fascination and fear.
The frenzy kicked off when Beyond Meat shares skyrocketed more than 95 percent Wednesday morning, briefly topping $3.10 before giving back gains. Krispy Kreme jumped over 20 percent, and GoPro surged more than 14 percent as a wave of speculative buying washed through the market. “This is a throwback to 2021 — the hope, dreams, themes, and memes kind of environment that we were navigating in that time frame,” said Matt Stucky, chief equities portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management.
The Beyond Meat Phenomenon
Beyond Meat’s rally has been nothing short of astonishing. Over the past five days, the company’s stock price has exploded by more than 900 percent, transforming a floundering plant-based food manufacturer into the latest poster child of meme mania. The catalyst? A distribution deal with retail giant Walmart (NYSE: WMT), which will expand Beyond Meat’s reach across thousands of storefronts in North America.
Adding fuel to the fire, Beyond Meat was included in the relaunched Roundhill Investments MEME ETF (NYSEARCA: MEME) earlier this week. That addition triggered a massive influx of retail interest, with data from Vanda Research showing traders poured nearly $35 million into Beyond Meat shares on Tuesday alone—the largest single-day retail purchase in the company’s history.
Yet behind the euphoria lies a familiar risk. Beyond Meat’s short float has soared above 64 percent, according to FINVIZ data, signaling that a majority of its shares are being borrowed by traders betting against the company. This sets the stage for a potential short squeeze, where rising prices force short sellers to cover positions, sending prices even higher.
Glazed and Confused: The Krispy Kreme Revival
If Beyond Meat is the flavor of the week, Krispy Kreme is the comeback classic. Shares in the doughnut icon spiked over 20 percent Wednesday after recording their biggest day of stock buys since July, according to Vanda Research. The company, known for its hot glazed doughnuts and nostalgic brand, has become an unlikely player in the meme trade revival.
Krispy Kreme’s short interest currently sits around 30 percent—a recipe ripe for volatility. For retail traders nostalgic for 2021’s glory days, the idea of a “sweet squeeze” has proven irresistible.
Still, the fundamentals haven’t changed. Krispy Kreme’s expansion into soft-serve ice cream and cold desserts is part of its long-term growth plan, but analysts warn that its valuation surge this week has far more to do with social media sentiment than financial performance.
GoPro’s Flashback Moment
Once a darling of the tech boom, GoPro has spent years out of the limelight. That changed Wednesday as the action-camera maker jumped more than 14 percent amid rising trading volumes. With short interest hovering around 13 percent, GoPro has become another lightning rod for retail enthusiasm.
Its sudden revival mirrors the chaotic energy of the 2021 retail trading boom when brands like AMC and GameStop turned into cultural phenomena. Today’s GoPro rally carries the same DNA: low float, heavy short interest, and a loyal fan base that believes the next big move is just a few Reddit posts away.
The Return of Speculative Fever
The resurgence of meme stocks speaks to a deeper shift in market psychology. After months of cautious optimism, investors are once again gravitating toward riskier bets, driven by boredom, hope, and the potential for overnight riches.
“It is a speculative kind of risk that’s starting to build up in markets,” Stucky said. “Companies that don’t have any positive earnings, maybe they’re losing money, really leading markets higher over the last 12 months.”
The market environment remains choppy. The Nasdaq has struggled to find direction amid inflation jitters and slowing growth, but meme stocks seem to exist in their own universe—one powered by community sentiment rather than balance sheets.
Opendoor and the Hedge Fund Effect
While Beyond Meat, Krispy Kreme, and GoPro were climbing, Opendoor Technologies (NASDAQ: OPEN) took a hit, falling more than 8 percent Wednesday morning. Despite the drop, Opendoor remains one of 2025’s biggest meme stock stories, up nearly 300 percent year-to-date. Much of that surge has been attributed to hedge fund manager Eric Jackson, who has championed the company’s comeback narrative across social media platforms.
But like others caught in this speculative storm, Opendoor’s fundamentals tell a different story. The online real estate platform continues to face profit challenges as higher interest rates cool the housing market. Yet in the meme world, narrative often trumps numbers.
The MEME ETF’s Wild Ride
Roundhill Investments’ MEME ETF, which was shuttered in 2023 and revived this month, has once again become a barometer of retail trading energy. The ETF has dropped more than 17 percent over the past few days and fell another 5 percent Wednesday, reflecting the unpredictable nature of these speculative cycles.
The ETF’s composition—packed with names like Beyond Meat, GameStop, and AMC—represents a snapshot of investor sentiment at its most extreme. These are companies that thrive not on consistent earnings but on the sheer force of collective belief.
A Market Running on Emotion
What’s driving this new wave of meme-stock mania isn’t necessarily optimism about business fundamentals. It’s emotion—specifically, the human desire to be part of something exciting, to chase the improbable, and to prove that the little guy can still move markets.
Platforms like Reddit’s WallStreetBets and X (formerly Twitter) have once again become echo chambers for hype and strategy. Livestreams, memes, and trading screenshots dominate the conversation, creating a feedback loop of speculation and FOMO.
Lessons from the 2021 Mania
The current surge is eerily reminiscent of 2021’s GameStop saga, when retail investors turned short squeezes into social movements. While regulators have since tightened oversight, the fundamental dynamics remain the same: excessive leverage, social media-driven narratives, and retail enthusiasm unbound by traditional valuation logic.
For some, the revival of meme trading is a sign of irrational exuberance returning to markets too soon. For others, it’s proof that retail investors—armed with commission-free trading apps and social media megaphones—are now a permanent force in financial markets.
The Speculative Pendulum Swings Again
Every bull market has its sideshows, and meme stocks are this one’s main act. When capital floods into speculative corners of the market, it often signals either the beginning or the end of a risk cycle. Whether this meme-stock surge marks the dawn of a new speculative wave or the last gasp of one remains to be seen.
What’s certain is that the retail investor revolution that began in 2021 is far from over. From Beyond Meat’s veggie-fueled moonshot to Krispy Kreme’s sugary surge, this week’s trading action proves one thing: memes still move markets.
Conclusion
Speculation has once again become the stock market’s favorite flavor. Beyond Meat, Krispy Kreme, and GoPro may not share much in business models, but they share one vital trait—the ability to capture attention and ignite frenzy. As institutional players analyze charts, retail traders are busy writing a new chapter in meme-stock history, one tweet and trade at a time.