Beyond Meat Stock Tumbles After Delayed Earnings Report. What’s Behind the Holdup.

In 2019, Beyond Meat became the first pure-play maker of plant-based meat alternatives to go public. (Courtesy Beyond Meat)

Key Points

• Beyond Meat postponed its third-quarter earnings report to Nov. 11 as it works to decide how large a non-cash impairment charge on long-lived assets it needs to tale.
• The company’s stock fell 7.6% to $1.53 on Monday, despite a recent short squeeze that pushed shares as high as $7.69.
• Analysts expect third-quarter sales of $69 million, a decrease from $75 million last quarter and $81 million in the prior year.

Beyond Meat is delaying the release of its third-quarter earnings report, the company said a day before it was slated to report the results.

The postponement stems from a noncash impairment charge related to certain long-lived assets. Beyond Meat disclosed the charge in October, saying it was expected to have a significant effect on its results for the three months ended Sept. 27.

The company said Monday it isn’t able to “reasonably quantify the amount.” Rather than report earnings on Nov. 4 as planned, Beyond Meat postponed the release and a call to discuss the numbers until Nov. 11, citing a need for “additional time, resources and effort to finalize its assessment.”

Shares declined 16% to $1.39 following the announcement.

Just weeks earlier, Beyond Meat appeared to be an emerging meme stock, a successor to AMC Entertainment Holdings and GameStop . A short squeeze at the end of October caused shares to skyrocket and trade as high as $7.69.

But the company’s problems continue to follow it. In 2019, Beyond Meat became the first pure-play maker of plant-based meat alternatives to go public. Sales peaked in 2021 before dropping off sharply, largely due to shifting consumer preferences, as Beyond Meat’s hopes of taking on the beef industry didn’t pan out.

The company has faced stiff competition from peers like privately held Impossible Foods as the broader plant-based category grapples with falling sales volumes. To date, Beyond Meat has never turned an annual profit, and its operating cash flows have been consistently negative.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect the company to log sales of $69 million in the third quarter, down from $75 million in the previous quarter and $81 million in the same period last year.

Mizuho analysts cut their price target on Beyond Meat to $1.50 from $2 on Oct. 24, arguing that the company’s fundamentals remained weak despite an influx of attention from retail investors.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com