Beyond Meat stock drops more than 25% as COVID-19 cuts profits



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Beyond Meat Inc. released third quarter results on Monday.

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Shares of Beyond Meat Inc. plunged more than 25% in extended trading Monday after the flagship plant-based meat name announced third-quarter results that largely missed Wall Street estimates.

The poor neighborhood was exacerbated by news hours earlier from McDonald’s Corp. MCD,
-1.54%
: The fast food giant has announced McPlant, a line of meat alternatives that will launch with tests of a fake burger next year that could ultimately lead to chicken and sausage substitutes.

Beyond BYND Meat,
-4.05%
reported a loss of $ 19.3 million, or 31 cents per share, compared with net income of $ 4.1 million, or 6 cents per share, in the last year’s quarter. Revenue improved only 3% to $ 94.4 million, from $ 92 million a year ago.

“Our financial results reflect a quarter where, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, we experienced the full impact and unpredictability of COVID-19 on our bottom lines and, therefore, throughout our P&L” , Ethan Brown, CEO of Beyond Meat, said in a statement. .

“Unlike the second quarter where record retail purchases and consumer loading of freezers offset the deterioration in our food service business with COVID-19 Stay at Home and related measures put in place, the long tail of storage retail by consumers, coupled with continued challenges faced by the majority of our foodservice customers led to third quarter results below our expectations, ”said Mr. Brown.

Beyond Meat said so and McDonald’s co-created the plant-based patty that will be available as part of the McPlant platform. Still, Brown broke down on a conference call with analysts Monday night that McPlant’s news reminded him of a quote from Mark Twain. “Reports of my death have been very exaggerated,” he joked, before adding hastily, “Our relationship with McDonald’s is going well.

Still, a handful of analysts pushed back, citing a previous call from McDonald’s that they said downplayed Beyond Meat’s contribution.

Highlighting the difficult times, Beyond Meat said it was on hold on its forecasts for its fourth quarter and full year.

FactSet analysts were forecasting earnings per share of 5 cents on revenue of $ 132.4 million.

Although it was toast on Monday after office hours, Beyond Meat led a wave of activity in a scorching market.

The urgency with which Beyond Meat broke the news has intensified in recent weeks: it has announced a partnership to bring Jamaican plant-based patties to sale at Golden Krust; the launch of Beyond Breakfast Sausage Links in grocery stores across the country; and increased distribution of Beyond Breakfast Sausage Patties groceries at retailers such as Kroger Co. KR,
-6.51%,
Walmart Inc. WMT,
-1.53%
and Publix.

Learn more: Beyond Meat Profit Snapshot: Competition and Pricing Could Impact Margins

Beyond’s results come against a backdrop of increased competition with rival Impossible Foods Inc., which announced last month that it was “doubling” its R&D investments for products and manufacturing.

Areas of investment could include improving the taste and smell of existing products, new types of plant-based meat being developed, such as fish, and improving manufacturing processes, said Impossible CFO David Lee at MarketWatch.

Shares of Beyond Meat are up 99% this year. The larger SPX index of the S&P 500,
+ 1.17%
is up 10% in 2020.

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