On the microblogging site Twitter (TWTR), Jim Cramer fanned out some advice to “the people who run” Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) on the microblogging site Twitter (TWTR). Cramer is the host of Mad Money on CNBC and the head of the CNBC Investing Club. BBBY is an American chain of merchandise retail stores.
Cramer urged BBBY, stating, “if you do not take advantage of that short position to sell equity you are as equally ill-advised when you bought back all that stock at much higher prices.”
As per Cramer, the “cash-strapped” department store needs money to shore up its balance sheet. “How can the cash-strapped Bed Bath & Beyond not issue ten million shares today for breathing room?” he further quoted.
His advice comes as the meme stock frenzy has picked up the pace again. BBBY has been a meme favorite stock, which in the last five days alone has soared nearly 70%.
Short sellers are betting heavily on the stock despite there being zero fundamental back-ups for the stock’s trajectory. On Monday alone, BBBY stock surged almost 63%, marking its biggest one-day gain in a year.
The retailer has consistently missed Wall Street expectations since 2021 and registered huge losses. Following a heavy trading day, Tuesday witnessed an 18% plunge in BBBY stock as Robert W. Baird analyst Peter Benedict downgraded the stock to a Sell rating from Hold.
Benedict has assigned a $4 price target to BBBY stock, which implies a whopping 59% downside potential to current levels. Benedict warned investors of the meme frenzy, which is driven by “non-fundamentally focused market participants” and suggested selling the stock. BBBY stock has lost 35.4% so far this year.
Meanwhile, Cramer thinks that BBBY should issue additional shares and rake in some cash rather than incur more debt. This is in response to a recent Bloomberg report stating BBBY was exploring private credit opportunities to boost liquidity.
Obviously, the suggestion did not go well with the Twitterati. A few respondents even suggested that the company should wait for the BBBY stock price to go up further before it thinks of selling more shares. That way, they can scoop in more cash instead of selling at these lows.
And many posts saying “do the opposite of what Cramer says” filled the walls. While the criticism of Cramer will continue on Twitter, the investment pundit surely knows a thing or two about investing.
Is BBBY a Buy Now?
Currently, BBBY is facing multiple issues. The company needs to ramp up its sales and bolster its balance sheet. On TipRanks, BBBY stock has a Moderate Sell consensus rating based on four Holds and nine Sells. The average Bed Bath & Beyond price target of $3.62 implies 63% downside potential to current levels. Based on the above parameters, it would be advisable to wait on the sidelines for now.
