A CEO’s Guide to Making the Most of Your Meme Stock Moment

One moment, your company is a footnote during earnings seasons; the next, it’s the star of a Reddit thread, your stock is up 400% and your face—poorly Photoshopped onto a Shiba Inu—is circulating on social media.

Such is the logic-defying trajectory of a meme stock, where valuations and fundamentals take a back seat to virality.

It’s a disorienting position that the chief executive officers of real-estate platform Opendoor Technologies, doughnut chain Krispy Kreme, department store Kohl’s and, now, plant-based burger and sausage maker Beyond Meat Inc. have all found themselves in. Their stocks, like those of ...