The shares are trading up 18% ahead of the opening bell
The shares of Blue Apron Holdings Inc (NYSE:APRN) are soaring in electronic trading, after the meal delivery name said it has teamed up with Walmart (WMT) to offer meal kits through the retailer's e-commerce company, Jet. Against this backdrop, APRN stock is set to open up 18.4% at $1.35 per share.
Today's expected upside runs counter to ARPN's longer-term trend. Blue Apron shares opened at $10 on their first day of trading back on June 29, 2017, and topped out at a record high of $11 in that session. Since then, the stock has shed 89.6%, based on last Friday's close at $1.14, and just wrapped up its sixth straight weekly loss. Plus, the security hit an all-time low of $1.02 last Tuesday, Oct. 23.
Short sellers have been in the drivers seat all along. The 17.03 million APRN shares sold short is a chip-shot away from the record 19.49 million shorted shares, hit in the mid-August reporting period. Plus, the current number of shares held by short sellers represents 30.5% of the stock's available float, or 5.5 times the average daily pace of trading.
Elsewhere on the sentiment front, 11 of the 14 analysts covering Blue Apron maintain a tepid "hold" rating, though not one has recommended selling the shares. Meanwhile, the average 12-month price target sits all the way up at $2.71, in territory APRN stock has not traded in since late July.