MW Krispy Kreme's meme-stock ride is over. The stock is tumbling as losses widen.

By James Rogers

The end of Krispy Kreme's doughnut partnership with McDonald's weighed on the company's second-quarter results

Krispy Kreme, which was recently caught up in a meme-stock rally, reported second-quarter results after market close Wednesday.

Shares of Krispy Kreme Inc., which recently got caught up in a meme-stock wave, were tumbling in early trading Thursday, after the doughnut maker swung to a wider-than-expected loss in the latest quarter.

The company's stock (DNUT) dropped 6.6% in morning trading, and was below where it was trading just before the meme-stock rally hit.

The flurry of meme-stock activity, which had also lifted shares of Kohl's Corp. $(KSS)$ and Opendoor Technologies Inc. (OPEN), saw Krispy Kreme's stock skyrocket as much as 75.8% to the July 23 intraday high of $5.73, from the July 21 close of $3.26.

In a statement, Krispy Kreme Chief Executive Josh Charlesworth said that the end of the company's doughnut partnership with McDonald's Corp. $(MCD)$ had a huge effect on the company's bottom line for the second quarter to June 29.

"Our results for the second quarter primarily reflect the impact of unsustainable operating costs relative to unit demand in the McDonald's USA partnership, which ended July 2, 2025," he said. "We are quickly removing our costs related to the McDonald's partnership and growing fresh delivery through profitable, high-volume doors with major customers."

Krispy Kreme expects "to begin recouping profitability" in the third quarter, he added.

The alliance between the doughnut maker and the fast-food giant was announced in March 2024 and had reached 2,400 McDonald's locations. It was scrapped last month amid falling demand.

For the second quarter, Krispy Kreme reported a net loss that widened to $435.3 million, or a loss of $2.55 a share, from a net loss of $5.5 million, or 3 cents a share, in the same period last year. However, the company's latest-quarter loss included charges of $406.9 million to write off the loss of value on assets due to the recent decline in the stock price, and as a result of the terminated deal with McDonald's.

At the stock's record-low close of $2.57 on June 25, the stock had plunged 74.1% year to date. It has bounced 24.5% since then.

On an adjusted basis, which excludes the one-time charges, Krispy Kreme swung to a loss of 15 cents a share, after earnings of 5 cents a share in the prior year's quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for a loss of 3 cents a share.

The company's net revenue fell 13.5% to $379.8 million, but topped the FactSet consensus estimate of $376 million.

Krispy Kreme shares are now down 67.8% in 2025, compared with the S&P 500 index's SPX gain of 8.5%.

Steve Gelsi contributed.

-James Rogers

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August 07, 2025 10:09 ET (14:09 GMT)

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