SmileDirectClub surges 29% after announcing a line of its products will be sold at Walmart

• On Monday, SmileDirectClub announced the launch of a new oral care line available at 3,800 US Walmart stores and online at Walmart.com.
• Shares surged 29% Monday, the largest intraday gain for the company since its initial public offering in September 2019.
• Still, SmileDirectClub is trading more than 50% below its IPO price of $23 per share after deep losses and attention from short-sellers has weighed on the company stock.
• Watch SmileDirectClub trade live on Markets Insider.

Shares of SmileDirectClub surged 29% Monday after the company announced the launch of a new line of oral care products available exclusively at US Walmart stores and online at Walmart.com.

It's the largest intraday gain for SmileDirectClub since it listed as a public company in September 2019.

The retail rollout "extends our mission to be the consumer's first resource for safe, affordable, and convenient oral care solutions," said Josh Chapman, SmileDirectClub's chief global brand officer in a press release.

An electric toothbrush and whitening kit from SmileDirectClub are immediately available at 3,800 Walmart stores and on the retailer's website. Later in the quarter, the company will release three more products for the line including toothpaste, a water flosser, and an ultrasonic UV cleaner that sanitizes things such as toothbrush heads, retainers, aligners, and dentures, the company said.

SmileDirectClub will also separately begin offering a "club edition" electric toothbrush and replacement toothbrush head subscriptions exclusively on its website, the company said.

The launch and partnership with Walmart, a major retailer, has spurred investor confidence and led to the record gain for SmileDirectClub. The company got off to a rough start when its September 2019 public listing had the worst first-day performance of any US IPO over $1 billion since 2007.

The company's woes mounted when Hindenburg Research released a scathing report saying that the company was "carelessly cutting corners in a field of specialized medicine, putting customer safety at risk." Hindenburg shorted the stock, giving it a $2 price target.

SmileDirectClub later shed as much as 13% when Hindenburg tweeted that its stores were raided by the Dental Board of California. The company fell an additional 20% when it reported a larger-than-expected loss in its third-quarter earnings release in November.

With today's gains, the company is still trading more than 50% below its IPO price of $23 per share. Wall Street analysts have a consensus price target of $19.45 and 11 "buy" ratings, 1 "hold" rating, and zero "sell" ratings on SmileDirectClub, according to Bloomberg data.