What Happened?
Shares of plant-based protein company Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) fell 6.9% in the morning session after analysts at Mizuho and Barclays lowered their price targets on the stock following the company's weak third-quarter financial report and poor future guidance.
The plant-based meat company's results showed falling demand, with U.S. retail volumes dropping 13% and foodservice volumes declining 27%. Beyond Meat missed earnings per share estimates and issued fourth-quarter revenue guidance that was below consensus expectations. The company also recorded a significant $77 million impairment charge, a write-down that signaled diminished expectations for its long-term performance. Mizuho cut its price target to $1.00 from $1.50, and Barclays also lowered its target to $1.00.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Beyond Meat? Access our full analysis report here.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Beyond Meat’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 67 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 2 days ago when the stock dropped 7.5% on the news that the company reported a wider third-quarter loss and provided a weak sales forecast for the upcoming quarter, signaling ongoing demand issues. For the quarter, revenue fell 13.3% to $70.2 million, driven by a 10.3% drop in the volume of products sold. The company's net loss swelled, largely due to a significant non-cash impairment charge on some of its assets. Looking ahead, Beyond Meat projected fourth-quarter revenue to be between $60 million and $65 million, a figure below what Wall Street had expected. This weak outlook reflected persistent challenges, including sluggish overall demand for its products and inflation pushing consumers toward less expensive food options.
Beyond Meat is down 72.9% since the beginning of the year, and at $1.05 per share, it is trading 80.3% below its 52-week high of $5.30 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Beyond Meat’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $8.38.
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