Homegoods retailer Pier 1 Imports Inc (NYSE:PIR) announced last night that it would be shuttering nearly half its stores and cutting jobs. The firm also issued a warning over its ability to carry on as a going concern, as Amazon (AMZN) and other e-tailers continue to corner the market.
Additionally, a Bloomberg report suggested Pier 1 drafted a bankruptcy proposal, after last month's presentation to creditors regarding a leaner operation. In response, the stock is down 16.1% in electronic trading, after closing last night at $5.18.
This premarket dip puts PIR on track to open near its early September lows. A modest rally off here eventually sputtered out at the 200-day moving average, which has acted as a ceiling for PIR since 2017. Year-over-year, the stock has lost roughly 60%.
Short sellers would be cheering today's dip, though PIR remains on the short-sale restricted (SSR) list following Monday's 16.9% nosedive. Currently, the 970,131 shares sold short represent a whopping 37.1% of the stock's available float, or 5.2 times PIR's average pace of trading.