Why Beyond Meat Stock Was Sliding Today
Shares of Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) were cooling off today after the plant-based meat producer posted another disappointing quarterly earnings report.
Beyond Meat's revenue continued to decline, and it reported another wide loss on the bottom line.
As a result, the stock was down 13.8% as of 9:41 a.m. ET.
Beyond Meat is still shrinking
The alternative meat company has been struggling for years now as it seems to have saturated the market for plant-based meat, and consumer interest has faded.
Those trends continued in the first quarter as revenue fell 18% to $75.6 million, which was slightly ahead of estimates at $75.2 million. The company said it faced a difficult comparison with a large order from McDonald's in the year-ago quarter.
U.S. revenue was down 16% to $49.4 million, while international revenue dropped 21.5% to $26.2 million.
The company has been focused on cutting costs to take steps to profitability, and it delivered a positive gross profit in the quarter of $3.7 million, though that was down from $6.2 million in the quarter a year ago.
Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) loss narrowed from $45.8 million to $32.9 million, showing the benefit of layoffs and supply chain and manufacturing enhancements.
On the bottom line, its adjusted per-share loss narrowed from $0.92 to $0.72, which was slightly worse than the consensus at $0.67.
What's next for Beyond Meat
CEO Ethan Brown said the company was making progress against its priorities, including financial goals and food quality improvements, but the guidance shows Beyond Meat still has a lot of work to do.
For the full year, the company expects revenue of $315 million to $345 million, which lines up with the consensus at $329.6 million and reflects a decline of 4% at the midpoint.
It also sees gross margin improving into the mid to high teens, though it still expects an operating loss of at least $100 million for the year.
With revenue still falling and wide losses on the bottom line, it's easy to see why Beyond Meat stock is down again on earnings. The path to a viable, healthy business still seems narrow for the plant-based meat provider.
Should you invest $1,000 in Beyond Meat right now?
Before you buy stock in Beyond Meat, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Beyond Meat wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $554,830!*
Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*.
*Stock Advisor returns as of May 6, 2024
Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Beyond Meat. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Why Beyond Meat Stock Was Sliding Today was originally published by The Motley Fool
