Yahoo Finance Live's Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi discuss the recent surge for Bed Bath & Beyond stock after GameStop chairman Ryan Cohen disclosed his 9.8% stake in the company.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Bed Bath & Beyond-- the shares are surging this morning.

BRIAN SOZZI: Star Trek.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, 90%, almost 90% is the increase that we are seeing in the shares this morning. And it has to do with a man named Ryan Cohen. Now, Ryan Cohen, that name might be familiar to you, because he also has a stake in another retailer that's called GameStop that also has had a similar surge over the past year or so, a little more than a year.

He's got a 9.8% stake in Bed Bath & Beyond now, or his firm does, RC Ventures. And he's pushing them to sell the whole company. Could we see a GameStop Bed Bath & Beyond merger? No, I kid. I can't, Brian Sozz.

BRIAN SOZZI: Stop it, Julie. Just stop. Stop it. Please, no.

JULIE HYMAN: But, obviously, when you look at this kind of a stock action, I have two thoughts. One is the Bed Bath & Beyond was already a stock that was getting some retail investor attention, some meme stock attention, right? Secondly, 27% of the float of this company is sold short. So clearly there is also likely a short squeeze effect here that's exacerbating the spike in the shares. But it is still eye popping when you see a game like this.

BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, Ryan Cohen, the wannabe savior to dying or struggling retailers-- now, we have still not heard a clear outward plan for his plans over a GameStop. Of course, they've launched an NFT marketplace. That's pretty cool. But Cohen disclosing that 9.8% stake here.

And just reading this letter from Cohen, which Yahoo Finance obtained, I mean, it's a doozy. He essentially wants them to split off buybuy BABY. That is the baby-focused, infant-focused apparel and goods destination the company has long owned, and then after doing that sell the whole darn company.

And he really takes Mark Tritton to task, one for his compensation last year, but also, two, just him out there doing a lot of interviews with what Cohen says, quote, "television pundits." Now, Cohen, I mean, now, Tritton has been on with us a lot. I am no TV pundit, so I take exception with what Cohen said there. I'm a journalist. We're trying to understand what Tritton has tried to do over the past year and a half to jump start and save this company. So I think Cohen needs to get his wording right in that respect.

But still, the turnaround has hit a brick wall over at Bed Bath & Beyond, two bad quarters in a row, bad guidance. Sales in the most recent quarter, I believe, fell close to 28%, operating, adjusted operating profits down $80 million. So the company has really struggled here to just live up to the turnaround.

But Tritton has been out there pitching in many places here. The stores look in disarray, depending what location you go to. They're trying to push more private label brands to consumers. They pulled back on coupons. The consumer hasn't responded well to that.

So there's a lot going on here, Julie. And it's interesting, if you're Mark Tritton, you wake up this morning, sure, you know you're out there making news-- you're out there making news, not because you want to. You're under attack from a Ryan Cohen. But still, your stock price is up 90%. So how bad is your day going?

JULIE HYMAN: Well, and you say the stores are in disarray, but Bed Bath has been trying-- I mean, you were-- you interviewed Tritton in one of those stores that was being remade.

BRIAN SOZZI: The store looked great. Beautiful store.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, so they have--

BRIAN SOZZI: Absolutely beautiful.

JULIE HYMAN: They've been making efforts to turn around at least some of the stores and remake them. So they're not that chaotic experience that was a hallmark of Bed Bath & Beyond for so many years.

BRIAN SOZZI: No, Mark Tritton, one of the best retail minds in the business. I mean, hands down. I followed this guy's career for many, many years, from when he was over at Target, absolutely knows what he's doing. But the market has changed.

And to turn around a company like Bed Bath & Beyond, it doesn't happen overnight. Doesn't happen over two years. It happens over the course of several years. But I think Cohen just wants him to move faster.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, but his track record, as you mentioned, with GameStop, eh, uh--

BRIAN SOZZI: Ooh.

JULIE HYMAN: Unclear. Unclear as of now. But, obviously, his name goes a long way to getting retail investors noticed.