Shares of ToughBuilt Industries Inc. soared 33.2% in very active morning trading Thursday, after the tools maker announced an agreement to sell 35 of its products in Ace Hardware stores nationwide. Trading volume swelled to 38.7 million shares, already more than that full-day average of 21.7 million shares, and enough to make the stock the fifth-most active on major U.S. exchanges. Investors have been riding a rollercoaster the last couple weeks. The stock had rocketed 202.3% last week amid a “meme”-like rally, then pulled back 42.6% over the past three days, after the company took advantage of the rally to announce a $20 million private placement of stock, including the issuance of 4 million common shares. That company had only 1.02 million common shares outstanding as of May 20, which puts the current market capitalization at about $13 million. The stock was still down 88.9% year to date after the recent rally, while the S&P 500 has lost 16.0%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.