(Reuters) - Shares of Tupperware Brands surged 55% on Friday, after the kitchen storage container maker finalized a debt restructuring deal, reinvigorating retail investors' interest in the company.
The Florida-based firm is making an attempt to turn around its business after raising doubts in April about its ability to continue as a going concern as it struggles with slumping sales.
Tupperware said on Thursday it had struck an agreement with its lenders which will help reduce or reallocate about $150 million of cash interest and fees, and would give it immediate access to a revolving borrowing capacity of about $21 million.
The agreement "provides a lifeline, yet the market environment may prove to be extremely difficult," said Bartosz Sawicki, market analyst at financial services firm Conotoxia.
After a surge in demand for Tupperware containers to store food during the lockdown, the company has witnessed a slide in sales volumes since 2022.
Widely recognized for its bright-colored plastic airtight containers, the company had recently caught retail traders' attention, which has helped drive a more than 449% share surge over the past three weeks.
Tupperware was the fourth most touted stock on investors-focused social media, stocktwits.com on Friday.
The share gains were reminiscent of eye watering rallies for "meme stocks" including AMC and GameStop (NYSE:GME), where retail investors would band together on social media and typically focus their speculative bets on companies that were financially struggling and had high short interest.
Analytics firm Ortex estimated 30.8% of Tupperware's publicly available shares were shorted. Bearish investors have lost $33 million on paper in the past three weeks.
Tupperware was the second most actively traded single stock by retail traders over the past week, Peng Cheng, strategist at J.P.Morgan, wrote in a note.
Tupperware held a market value of $156.56 million as of Thursday's close, after losing about 63% off its value over the past 12 months.
Other meme stocks active over the past week including Yellow, Nio Inc and American Superconductor Corp rose between 2.3% and 15% on Friday.