On June 26, Wendys rose 8.8% in regular trading, trading at $7.565/share with turnover of $184 million, extending the meme-stock driven rally that began earlier this week.

The ongoing surge is fueled by a continuation of the short squeeze triggered by the Reddit WallStreetBets community, which targeted the heavily shorted fast-food chain. On June 25, Wendys surged 19% in pre-market trading as the squeeze intensified, with options activity reaching 476,200 contracts in a single session, 80% of which were call options. The most actively traded were June 26 expiry calls at the $8 strike, with 33,700 contracts changing hands.

The meme-stock movement coincides with fundamental catalysts including the appointment of Steve Cirulis as CFO and the earlier hiring of Robert Wright as CEO in May. The stock had declined approximately 50% over the prior year due to inflation pressures and weaker consumer spending, creating elevated short interest that made it a prime target for retail-driven squeeze activity. Trading was halted multiple times earlier in the week after the stock surged as much as 42% intraday.

(The above content is based on publicly available market information, generated by a program or algorithm, and is intended solely as a stock movement alert. It does not constitute investment advice or a basis for trading decisions.)