Beyond Meat Inc. announced its financial results for the third quarter that missed consensus forecast by big margin, mainly due to low sales of plant-based meat at retail outlets and restaurants amid the coronavirus pandemic. The company was also hurt by a sharp decline in sales at locations such as educational institutions and workplaces.
Shares of Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) plunged more than 22 percent in the pre-market trading Tuesday following the results.
The Los Angeles-based producer of plant-based meat posted a loss of $19.3 million, or 31 cents per share in the quarter, as compared to earnings of $4.1 million, or 6 cents per share in the comparable period last year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for earnings of 5 cents.
Revenue rose just 3 percent to $94.4 million, as compared to $92 million in the year-ago quarter, and well below analysts’ average estimate of $132.4 million. Restaurant sales in the United States decreased 11.1 percent in the quarter.
Speaking on the results, Chief Executive Officer Ethan Brown said in a statement that “unlike the second quarter where record retail buying and freezer loading by consumers offset the deterioration of our food-service business as COVID-19 stay-at-home and related measures set in, the long tail of retail stockpiling by consumers, coupled with continued challenges across the majority of our food-service customers, led to Q3 results that were lower than we expected,”
Beyond Meat did not offer any financial outlook for the fourth quarter and full year, citing uncertainties due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
BYND shares declined sharply after the pandemic started, touching a low of about $54 in March. However, the stock regained its lost value in the subsequent months and started trading above its pre-pandemic price levels until today, when it lost more than 32 points in the pre-market trading.
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