Is Wendy's the next meme stock? Everyday traders are trying to 'save' the fast-food chain.

By Gordon Gottsegen

The fast-food chain rallies on Wednesday after retail traders pour into the stock

The Wendy's fast-food chain has been an inside joke for retail investors on Reddit

Meme-stock summer could be back. Retail traders poured into the fast-food chain Wendy's after the closing bell on Tuesday, causing shares to rally more than 25% in Wednesday's session

The trading activity seems to stem from a viral post on the WallStreetBets subreddit titled, "We need to save Wendy's." The post showed that Wendy's stock (WEN) has declined nearly 73% over the past five years and encouraged retail investors to step in to save it.

Wendy's has become an inside joke for online retail-investor communities in recent years. Retail traders often take to WallStreetBets to share screenshots of heavy losses on their brokerage apps - referred to as "loss porn" - to gain sympathy, upvotes and be roasted by other redditors. In the comments of these loss posts, redditors would often joke about working at Wendy's to recoup losses, which sometimes reach five- or six-figure sums.

But besides being a meme in and of itself, Wendy's has a few characteristics that make it a solid candidate for meme-stock status. It's a nostalgic brand with a following among everyday people; the stock has been beaten up over several years; it's currently heavily shorted by Wall Street firms and it recently announced leadership changes - with Steve Cirulis joining as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer. Cirulis was previously chief financial officer and chief strategy officer at sandwich chain Potbelly.

Cirulis and representatives for Wendy's did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

All of this was enough for retail investors to send the stock flying on Wednesday. Multiple traders on Reddit shared screenshots that showed them purchasing thousands of Wendy's shares. Some went into detail on why they believe Wendy's was due for a turnaround. Others got in on the fun by sharing memes.

Moderators of WallStreetBets tried to clamp down on the Wendy's frenzy in the subreddit after discovering that the Reddit user behind the original viral Wendy's post was using it to profit off a crypto meme-coin project.

But even with those intentions in public view, redditors seemed to be having fun.

"Time to meme like we have never memed before," wrote Reddit user chance901.

-Gordon Gottsegen

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06-24-26 1722ET