Beyond Meat Inc.’s stock hurtled as much as 103% higher in after-hours trading Tuesday following the company’s quarterly results that included a forecast of gross margins in the mid- to high-teens for 2024.
The beleaguered fake-meat maker
BYND,
which had slogged through several brutal quarters, reported a fiscal fourth-quarter net loss of $155.1 million, or $2.40 a share, compared with a net loss of $66.9 million, or $1.05 a share, in the same quarter a year ago.
Net revenue declined to $73.7 million from $79.9 million in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected on average a net loss of 89 cents a share on revenue of $66.7 million.
The small cap company — with a market value: $480.8 million — provided fiscal 2024 sales guidance of $315 million to $345 million. FactSet analysts are forecasting $344.4 million.
“Our 2024 plan includes taking steps to steeply reduce operating expense and cash use; pricing actions and the right-sizing of our production footprint, both in support of margin expansion; and a years-in-the-making core platform renovation in Beyond IV,” Beyond Meat Chief Executive Ethan Brown said in a statement announcing the results.
Third Bridge analyst John Oh said the fourth-quarter results “demonstrate the encouraging steps” Beyond Meat is taking in “right-sizing their business to better fit the plant-based meat category as it stands today.”
“Our experts [in the plant-based field] have told us that the company ‘needs to get in survival mode’ and that the cost savings initiatives and manufacturing optimization efforts are crucial for BYND given where the sector as a whole is currently,” Oh said in an email.
Shares of Beyond Meat fell back to Earth a bit following their after-hours peak, and were last up around 68%. The stock has melted 58% over the past year, while the broader S&P 500 index
SPX
has advanced 28%.
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