Why Shares of Rite Aid Soared This Week

Shares of Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) were up 85.6% for the week as of Friday at 11:30 a.m. ET, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The drugstore company's stock closed last week at $1.60 a share, then rose to as high as $3.14 on Friday. The struggling company's shares were pushed up by a short squeeze. The healthcare stock is still down more than 6% this year.

Rite Aid's shares had been rising slightly since they hit their 52-week low of $1.42 on July 6. The company announced its fiscal 2024 first-quarter earnings on June 29. In the report, it said it lost $306 million, or $5.56 in earnings per share (EPS), compared to a loss of $110 million and an EPS loss of $2.02 in the same period a year ago.

The company also forecasted a loss of $650 million to $680 million for the year. Revenue was down, too, but not as dramatically. Rite Aid reported it was $5 billion, down 5% year over year. The company has said it has a turnaround plan, but it hasn't had much effect yet.

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Source Fool.com