THE ROARING KITTY
← all chapters
A department store that drew activists and retail attention at the same time.
Kohl's was a traditional retailer under pressure, with activist investors publicly pushing for a sale or breakup.
Retail traders were drawn to the same setup the activists saw: a real estate rich, underperforming business with a possible buyer.
Multiple approaches came and went without a deal, and the stock gave back its gains.
Retail and institutional money sometimes want exactly the same thing. The crowd was not always fighting Wall Street, occasionally it was agreeing with part of it.
The nuance in the story: this was never purely retail against institutions.