Wendy's shares soar for a second day as retail investors pile into their new meme darling

A Wendy's restaurant sign is seen on Nov. 10, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty Images Wendy's shares extended their rally for a second day on Thursday, as retail traders continued piling into the heavily shorted fast-food chain. Shares surged another 12% in premarket after a 25.7% gain in the previous session, their biggest advance since June 2021. The rally appeared largely disconnected from company fundamentals and instead reflected a burst of social-media enthusiasm that has transformed Wendy's into the latest meme-stock favorite. "Reddit crowd hijacks stock," Don Bilson, head of event-driven research at Gordon Haskett, wrote in a note. "GameStop is inarguably the OG of meme stocks. It earned that distinction during Covid and credit for this is owed to the army of apes that get their marching orders from Reddit's WallStreetBets thread," Bilson said. "This army happens to be on the move again this morning outside of Columbus, Ohio. That is where Wendy's makes its home and its stock." The rally began Wednesday after Wendy's announced the appointment of former Potbelly executive Steven Cirulis as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer. Traders on Reddit forums increasingly portrayed Wendy's as a company worth "saving" after years of stock-market underperformance. One widely shared WallStreetBets post titled "We need to save Wendy's" and urged fellow traders to rally behind the restaurant chain. …