Several cases of mold and Listeria were found
Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ:BYND) is under fire after photos and internal documents from the food producer's Pennsylvania plant showed multiple cases of mold, Listeria, and other food safety issues. The document was provided by a former employee, while occurrences of bacteria were confirmed by two other employees who wished to not be names. BYND has lost nearly 80% in 2022.
This morning, however, the stock seems to be brushing off this report, or at least trying to. BYND was last seen up 0.9% at $13.40. The security is coming off a four-day losing streak after its early November rally ran out of steam at the 60-day moving average. Now, BYND is sitting back below all major long- and short-term trendlines once more.
The security also brushed off an earnings miss earlier this month, thanks to that day's broad-market tailwinds. The report did bring a round of price-target cuts from the brokerage bunch, though. Sentiment has definitely soured on Beyond Meat, as all 11 in coverage consider the equity a "hold" or worse.
Meanwhile, short sellers are firmly in control. Short interest is up 4.2% in the last two reporting periods, and makes up 40.4% of the stock's available float, or over seven days' worth of pent-up buying power.