CNBC·2025-07-29 16:05Meme Stock Phenomenon - Meme stocks experience volatile price swings unrelated to business fundamentals, often involving heavily shorted, cheap stocks [4] - Retail investors leverage social media to drive up stock prices, challenging institutional investors [3][8] - GameStop's surge, fueled by Reddit users, demonstrated the potential for massive gains and losses, impacting hedge funds [9][10] - Kohl's, like other recognizable brands, became a target for meme stock activity due to its household name and high short interest [11][12] Kohl's Business Performance - Kohl's stock experienced a 100% surge due to meme stock activity, despite underlying business performance being just "okay" [1] - From July 2021 to July 2025, Kohl's stock price decreased by approximately 85% [17] - Between 2019 and 2024, beauty and accessory sales increased by 38% due to the Sephora partnership, but overall sales decreased by 18.5%, and excluding beauty, sales decreased by around 26% [19] - Kohl's has lost 1.3 million customers over five years to competitors [17] Risks and Outlook - Short selling involves borrowing and selling stock, hoping to buy it back at a lower price, but losses can be exponential if the price rises [5][6] - Wild stock swings can distract from Kohl's need to focus on day-to-day operations [21] - While not in immediate danger of bankruptcy, Kohl's faces challenges and needs to experiment with different strategies under an interim CEO [18][19][20] - Predicting the next meme stock is difficult, but companies with household names and high short interest are potential candidates [14][16]