Beyond Meat's first-quarter losses and revenue missed Wall Street's forecasts
The shares of Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ:BYND) are trading at their lowest level ever this morning, last seen down 13% to trade at $22.77, after the company reported first-quarter losses of $1.58 per share on revenue of $109.46 million -- both of which missed Wall Street's estimates. Ethan Brown, CEO of the plant-based meat maker, said near-term results results were dented by the cost of "important strategic launches."
Beyond Meat stock is officially trading below its 2019 initial public offering (IPO) price of $25 per share. The equity has faced numerous challenges in the last six months, shedding 72.3% in that span of time, especially after Taco Bell dropped Beyond Meat's carne asada alternative and its product rollout in McDonald's (MCD) was met with a lukewarm response. Nearing the halfway point of 2022, BYND has already shed nearly 60% year-to-date.
In response to the quarterly results, a bevy of bear notes were dished out, with no less than seven price-target cuts coming through. Barclays, in addition to lowering its price objective to $25 from $80, also downgraded Beyond Meat stock to "equal weight" from "overweight." Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan Securities and Piper Sandler revised their price targets down to $15 and $12, respectively. Analysts were overwhelmingly bearish toward BYND coming into today. with 13 of the 14 in coverage recommending a "hold" or worse rating versus just one "strong buy."
Short interest has been on the rise, and is up 8.7% during the two most recent reporting periods. Currently, short interest makes up 39.9% of Beyond Meat stock's available float, or over seven days' worth of pent-up buying power. It's also worth noting that the stock has landed on the Short Sale Restricted (SSR) list today.
It should also come as no surprise that the options pits favor puts. In fact, at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Beyond Meat stock's 10- and 50-day put/call ratios sit in their 99th and 98th annual percentiles, respectively.
Today's trading is no different. So far, 33,000 puts and 13,000 calls have been exchanged, which is eight times the intraday average. The weekly 5/13 20-strike put is the most popular, followed by the June 15 put, with positions being sold to open at the latter.