Shares of alternative meat producer Beyond Meat Inc
"Our third-quarter results reflect variability as we saw a decline from record net revenues just a quarter ago," said Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown. "Despite current disruptions, we remain focused on rapidly advancing key building blocks of long-term growth....we believe we are steadily executing against our vision of being tomorrow's global protein company."
In October, the company warned investors that Q3 results were lower than initially forecasted, and shares slipped from previous highs. Beyond Meat at the time warned that its expected revenue would be around $106 million, well below the current forecasts that initially placed the company between $120-$140 million.
Looking over Beyond Meat's earnings report, the first reaction I had was ouch. Net losses sat around $55 million, more than double net losses in the same quarter the year prior. Net losses per share sat at $0.87, similarly more than doubled compared to last year. When rounded, revenue sat around $106 million, a modest improvement from Q3 2020s $94 million.
Despite new product releases such as Beyond Meat's October debut of its meatless chicken tenders, and partnerships with restaurant operators such as Yum! Brands
In the company's earnings call, Brown would comment that a "difficult operating environment" contributed heavily to the poor quarter. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Brown said, caused "quite a few disruptions" to the company. Given ongoing uncertainty within the foodservice sector, there's plenty of credence to the CEO's claim, especially going forward.
Shares of Beyond Meat had remained in a gradual decline through most of the week, losing 5.6% of their value by Wednesday close. After shares dove off a cliff pre-market, Beyond Meat opened 15% lower on Thursday. Shares recovered only slightly by noon, gaining back 0.16%.
