Brent Slava, Executive Producer, Stock Trader Network

Will just ask the question right away: who got a fast one pulled on them today?

It’s 8:15 a.m. this morning, Designer Brand Group (DBGI) shares were trading between $21 and $22, likely set to trade its average 100,000 shares per day or so…

…until the company issued a press release which disclosed management received an offer from an unnamed existing shareholder to buy all of the stock at $77.58 per share in cash, a more than 250% premium to where the stock was trading.

A normal premium for M&A is probably 20% to 30%.

The stock moved higher on the press release and offer, but stalled between $35 and $40.

“The algos aren’t even buying this one,” Stock Trader Network Chief Strategist Dennis Dick said on this morning’s PreMarket Prep episode, as the news broke live on air.

“Now it’s going down!” Dennis, watching the price action in the stock in real time. “Like who made this proposal? Obviously this is not being given a lot of credibility here.”

The stock sold off sharply into the open. While shares still opened up around 40%, profits were taken immediately. Shares turned negative and continued selling, ending up down more than 20%.

In this market where we have the valuations of near-trillion dollar companies swinging on a daily basis, and people complaining the market doesn’t know how to price anything in, we have the curious case of DBGI today.

Seems the market might have sniffed this one out pretty quickly…