Beyond Meat (BYND) is down nearly 20% this morning.
Even though the company posted great earnings, had a positive operating margin, and raised its full-year guidance, that wasn’t good enough for the Street. The company earned a profit of $4.1 million, or six cents a share on sales of $92 million. That’s up substantially from a loss of $9.3 million on sales of $26.43 million year over year.
Analysts were looking for four cents on $82.2 million in sales.
“After 10 years of aggressively investing in our science and product innovation, this is the first quarter we have generated net income,” Executive Chairman Seth Goldman said as quoted by MarketWatch. “It is a wonderful validation from consumers who support our business strategy of building meat directly from plants.”
Then, the company increased its annual revenue forecast for the second consecutive quarter, now expecting full year sales of between $265 million and $275 million.
However, even with all of that great news, the stock dropped nearly 20% on the day thanks in part to lock-up expiration, allowing insiders to sell. “Despite solid results the likelihood of early stage investors cashing out on a stock which is still up about 4x since its IPO, remains a drag in coming trading sessions,” said Barclays analyst Benjamin Theurer said, as quoted by CNBC.
One insider with no intention of selling is CEO Ethan Brown, who noted he’s not touching his shares and is focused on growing the company to a $40 billion company.
The Pullback in Beyond Meat May Lead to Opportunity
Remember, Research and Markets’ analysts expect the meatless-market to increase from $4.6 billion to $6.4 billion by 2023. Beyond Meat thinks that number could rocket to $35 billion in the U.S. Plus, not only is McDonald’s jumping on board, so is Dunkin.
Dunkin just moved up its nationwide launch of its Beyond Sausage in 9,000 locations after a test in New York earlier than expected. Initially, the launch was set for January 2020. Now, it’s November 6.“We are extremely proud of our partnership with Beyond Meat and thrilled to be the first U.S. quick service restaurant to offer Beyond Breakfast Sausage nationwide. Dunkin’ is the brand that democratizes trends for America, and this latest addition to our menu gives consumers more choice to meet their evolving needs,” Dunkin’ Brands CEO David Hoffmann said, as quoted by Yahoo Finance.
