What Happened?
Shares of plant-based protein company Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) fell 8.2% in the afternoon session after the company reported weak first quarter 2025 results which saw revenue, EPS, and EBITDA all fall short of Wall Street's expectations. Sales sank 9%, with U.S. revenue down 17%, as fewer people bought plant-based burgers and sausages. Margins collapsed, gross margin flipped to a loss, pulled down by excess inventory. It also pulled full-year guidance, citing uncertainty and poor visibility on category demand. Overall, this was a softer quarter.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Beyond Meat’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 45 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 biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 10 months ago when the stock dropped 18.4% on the news that the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was in talks with a group of bondholders to begin talks about restructuring its balance sheet. The talks are related to Beyond Meat's $1.1B convertible notes traded around 20 cents on the dollar, indicating investors' little faith in the company's near-term performance. The persistent cash burn recorded in recent quarters wasn't helping matters either.
As a quick recap, BYND missed analysts' revenue (down 18% y/y) and adjusted EBITDA estimates when it reported Q1'24 earnings. The results revealed weaknesses in volumes (down 16.1%) and pricing (2.3%), highlighting the potential for more business headwinds down the road.
Beyond Meat is down 39.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $2.34 per share, it is trading 71.5% below its 52-week high of $8.21 from May 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Beyond Meat’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $17.53.
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