New York, January 13, 2026, 07:41 EST — Premarket
- Chewy shares remained close to Monday’s closing level in early trading, following a steep one-day jump.
- A filing from Viking Global spotlighted the buyers behind CHWY and their motives.
- Focus is turning to the upcoming quarterly update and any related ownership filings that follow.
Chewy shares showed little movement in premarket trading Tuesday, following a 5.7% jump the day before. Investors are weighing a hedge fund ownership disclosure. The stock stood at $33.92 after hours, slightly below Monday’s close of $33.99.
This matters because once a big fund passes the 5% ownership threshold, it can shift the narrative around a mid-cap stock that’s often driven by sentiment as much as by fundamentals. The timing is crucial, coming just before the next wave of retail earnings—where even minor tweaks in customer demand or shipping expenses tend to surface quickly.
A Schedule 13G filing — a brief ownership disclosure mainly used by passive investors — revealed that Viking Global Investors and affiliated parties owned 13,536,645 shares of Chewy’s Class A stock as of Dec. 18, representing 5.7% of the class, the document showed. Viking’s latest Form 13F, the quarterly holdings report for big money managers, recorded 5,483,690 Chewy shares as of Sept. 30, suggesting the stake more than doubled since then.
The stake boost provided traders with a straightforward catalyst on Monday, filling the void left by a lack of fresh company updates. Some analysts viewed the buying as a bet on Chewy’s subscription-driven model and its efforts to expand margins over the long haul.
Chewy last updated investors in December, reporting fiscal third-quarter net sales of roughly $3.12 billion, up 8.3% year over year, with net income hitting $59.2 million. “Chewy continues to outperform the pet category and expand market share, with profits once again growing faster than sales,” CEO Sumit Singh said in the release. (Business Wire)
The quarter failed to resolve questions around the holiday season. Chewy’s guidance for the next quarter came in below analyst forecasts, Barron’s reported, leaving management under continued pressure to prove growth and profitability can align.
Still, a filing offers just a snapshot, not a commitment. A 13G doesn’t necessarily mean an activist push, and the investor can sell their stake down the line; meanwhile, the stock remains vulnerable to shifts in demand or rivalry from players like Petco and Amazon.
Investors are keeping an eye out for updated ownership filings to see if Viking increases or reduces its stake, along with clues that larger institutions might be stepping in. Chewy hasn’t confirmed when it will report earnings, but one calendar suggests the next release could land around March 25, following previous timing.
Another earnings calendar sets the next report for March 31, 2026, with the upcoming quarter’s revenue forecasted around $3.26 billion. That late-March release will serve as the next major catalyst for CHWY, putting recent margin improvements to the test as growth cools from the post-pandemic spike.
