Chewy trading volume spike due to Cohen speculation, says Gordon Haskett

Gordon Haskett’s head of event-driven research Don Bilson notes that Chewy’s (CHWY) daily trading volume came within a million shares of 30M on Tuesday and the stock price advanced by nearly 14%, adding that “apparently credit for this frenzy belongs to speculation that Ryan Cohen has been accumulating a position.” Cohen, Chewy’s founder, now serves as Chairman of GameStop (GME), which just sold $3B of equity and has signaled that it could use the proceeds to buy stakes in other companies, so “it doesn’t require a major leap to think he might see an opportunity to do something at” Chewy given his history, the analyst said. The firm also notes that Cohen “just seized an opportunity to sell GME equity at inflated prices to an army of ‘Roaring Kitty’ fans” and wonders if BC Partners, which owns nearly 70% of Chewy, “will see a similar opportunity if Tuesday’s commotion lasts for more than a day or two.”