Krispy Kreme just got pulled into the meme vortex. The stock ticker $DNUT is now bouncing like a rubber ball in a Reddit thread. On July 23, 2025, shares surged 35.6% in premarket trading. By midday, volume hit 140 million. That’s 26 times the average. The move wasn’t earnings. It wasn’t guidance. It was social media. Posts on X and Reddit pushed the ticker into meme territory. The phrase “YOLO DNUT” is now circulating across WallStreetBets. The rally is real. The fundamentals are not.
The company is not profitable. Q1 revenue came in at $375 million, down 15% year-over-year. Net income was negative $33 million. Free cash flow was negative. The dividend was cut. Debt-to-equity ratio sits at 1.32. Gross margin is 100%. EBIT margin is negative 2.5%. The math is lopsided. The brand is strong. The balance sheet is not.
Short interest is high. Over 30% of the float is sold short. That’s fuel. The squeeze is technical. Options volume exploded past 100,000 contracts. Retail traders are chasing momentum. The stock is up 57% in July. It’s up 40% in five days. It’s down 56% year-to-date. It’s trading at $4.31. The 52-week high was $12.68. The low was $2.50. The IPO price in 2021 was $17. A $1,000 investment then is now worth $203.
The rally started with a birthday promo. Krispy Kreme offered 88-cent dozens for its 88th anniversary. Then came the Warner Bros. superhero doughnut tie-in. Then came CFO Raphael Duvivier’s appointment. Then came the meme wave. The company leaned in. Promotions went viral. Retail sentiment flipped. Analysts didn’t. Bank of America cut its price target from $7 to $6. Rating remains “Buy.” The upside is speculative.
One trader posted, “DNUT is only up because it has a funny ticker symbol.” Another said, “I predict this ends up back in the pooper.” The sentiment is mixed. The movement is not. Meme stocks are back. Krispy Kreme is now part of the rotation. The question isn’t valuation. It’s velocity.
Sources:
https://247wallst.com/investing/2025/07/24/forget-gme-krispy-kreme-dnut-is-the-new-meme-stock/
https://stockstotrade.com/news/krispy-kreme-inc-dnut-news-2025_07_23-2/
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/krispy-kreme-getting-meme-investor-174611126.html