Bed Bath & Beyond: shorted into bankruptcy, 2022 to 2023
The regulator's figures through the retailer's last two years: the 2022 rally and reversal, a short position that kept growing as the shares fell, and the archive after delisting.
- Start
- 28.02% (14 Jan 2022)
- Peak
- 88.45% (14 Apr 2023)
- Low
- 18.59% (31 Mar 2022)
- End
- 59.76% (28 Apr 2023)
Figures are the short interest as a percentage of shares outstanding, from FINRA data, 32 points between 14 Jan 2022 and 28 Apr 2023.
What the data showed
Bed Bath & Beyond entered 2022 with 28.02% of its shares outstanding reported short. Over the following eighteen months the figure rose almost continuously, reaching 88.45% on 14 Apr 2023. Unlike GameStop's 2020 peak, this one came at the end of the story rather than before a squeeze: the company filed for bankruptcy protection on 23 April 2023 and its shares were delisted the following month.
The August 2022 rally, when an activist investor's stake and subsequent exit moved the shares sharply in both directions within days, is visible as a brief dip in the reported position before the climb resumed.
The last reports
FINRA's final published count for the listed shares is dated 28 Apr 2023. After delisting the company's stock traded over the counter under a new symbol, outside the exchange-listed universe this site covers, and its history is frozen here as an archive page marked with its delisting year, so that a company later using the same ticker never inherits it.
Days to cover peaked at 5.89 days on 28 Feb 2022; in the final months, heavy trading volume kept the ratio low even as the position share of the company reached its high.
Full history and today's figure: Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.. This company has delisted; its page is a frozen archive.
About this page
US short interest data: FINRA (finra.org). FINRA® is a registered trademark of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by FINRA or the SEC; displayed for personal reference, bulk redistribution is not permitted (see terms). The narrative describes what the published figures showed and widely reported public events around them; it is not a description of any company's prospects and is not investment advice.