Shares of department store Kohl's surge 30% in wild trading

• Shares of Kohl's surged on Tuesday, leading to a temporary halt in trading due to volatility.
• The legacy department store's stock more than doubled in early trading, but those gains were soon wiped out.
• By mid-morning, trading volume was more than ten times higher than the average over the last three months.

Shares of Kohl's surged on Tuesday morning in volatile trading that echoed the meme stock rallies of recent years.

The legacy department store's stock more than doubled from Monday's close of $10.42 per share, only to see those gains wiped out about a half an hour after markets opened. Trading in the stock was temporarily halted at one point Tuesday morning.

Still, shares were still trading about 30% higher by around 10:30 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, the trading volume at mid-morning was already more than ten times higher than the average over the last three months.

There were no apparent corporate announcements or major stock ratings to send shares soaring on Tuesday, but Kohl's has all the markings of a meme stock. It's a legacy department store that many retail investors grew up shopping at, and it's heavily shorted, with about 50% of shares outstanding sold short, according to Factset.

It has a sprawling retail footprint of over 1,100 stores and has been the subject of takeover offers, activist campaigns and bankruptcy watchlists in recent years.

There's been recent chatter around Kohl's stock in the Wall Street Bets forum on Reddit, which became popular during the Gamestop short squeeze in 2021. Some pointed to it as a potential squeeze candidate given the short interest and its name recognition among retail investors.

When investors flock to a heavily shorted stock, those with short positions may buy more to cover their losses, which can drive the price higher.

Beyond its share price, Kohl's business has been struggling for several years. Its sales are falling, it faces rising competition and it's currently led by an interim CEO after its former CEO Ashley Buchanan was ousted over a conflict of interest scandal.

In May, Kohl's said it expects sales to fall between 5% and 7% in fiscal 2025, with comparable sales down between 4% and 6%.