Thursday's Market Minute: What Happened To Kodak?
Eastman Kodak (NYSE: KODK) shares closed up over 318% on Wednesday and saw trading volume of roughly 161,000,000 compared to Tuesday’s volume of 272,359,000 and Monday’s of 1,645,700. Before this week, Friday’s daily volume was just 74,900. The company was favored short prior to the recent rally, with nearly 6% of shares trading being sold short, about five times the average short interest ratio compared to stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. So what happened?
Tuesday, Kodak was granted a $765 million loan from the U.S. government to develop generic drug ingredients, sending shares soaring 203% to close out the session. The Wall Street Journal reported, “The onetime leader in photography sales is gearing up to produce ingredients for generic drugs, including the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine that President Trump has touted in the treatment of coronavirus.” Eastman Kodak provides hardware, software, and services in graphic arts, commercial print, publishing, electronic displays, entertainment and commercial films, as well as consumer products worldwide.
Because of this week’s rally so far, the stock is up nearly 614% YTD and 1,388% MTD. And more significantly, short-sellers have lost as much as $50 million in just a matter of this week. Kodak currently has no analysts covering its company.
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