POP MART staged a sharp rally as investor sentiment received a boost from an upcoming Chinese state media interview with Chief Executive Officer Wang Ning.

The Chinese toymaker’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose as much as 7% Friday after Tencent Video touted on its social media account that an interview from Xinhua News Agency with Pop Mart’s CEO will be aired at 12 p.m. Friday.

Pop Mart’s shares have soared over 23% this week, after the company bought back shares for the first time since 2024. The company has repurchased a total of HK$ 347 million ($45 million) worth of shares since Monday.

“The market had previously been overly pessimistic about Pop Mart’s outlook,” said Jeff Zhang, an analyst at Morningstar. The shares’ current valuations appear “too low” given the company’s sales outlook for this year.

This week’s rally is also testing traders who have built up sizable bearish wagers against the toymaker. Short interest in the stock rose to about 7.9% of its free float as of Tuesday, up from 0.2% in September, according to S&P Global data.