Sunday, March 13, 2022

"As plant-based meat growth stalls, what does it mean for the category?" (BYND)

 Not today Satan, not today.

From FoodDive, February 28:

Earnings reports last week for Beyond Meat and Maple Leaf Foods showed flat or negative growth — and no clear way to jumpstart sales.

Beyond Meat President and CEO Ethan Brown opened his Thursday evening remarks on the company's latest earnings report, which showed negative growth and high net losses, with a question that many analysts may be asking about the sector. 

"The key question is whether this reduced growth rate is an aberration or a harbinger of things to come," he said.

Brown and other Beyond Meat executives spent the next hour of the earnings call with analysts trying to argue the results were an aberration, but it so far has proven a difficult case to make. In trading after markets closed on Thursday, Beyond Meat's stock price fell nearly 14%. By press time Monday, the company's stock rebounded about 13% from Thursday's plunge.

Beyond Meat hasn't been the only plant-based meat company having problems pulling its growth rates up at the end of 2021. Maple Leaf Foods, which also announced quarterly earnings on Thursday, reported a sales decline of 3.7% for its Greenleaf Foods division, which includes plant-based meat brands Lightlife and Field Roast. Maple Leaf President and CEO Michael McCain said that in response, the company is reallocating the amount of capital and space in the supply chain in plant-based to be consistent with a much smaller growth rate than anticipated.

"After years of spectacular growth, the category has in fact stalled," Maple Leaf President and Chief Operating Officer Curtis Frank said on the company's earnings call.

Plant-based meat had previously been a phenomenal growth story, with sales growing 45% overall in 2020 compared to 2019, according to SPINS data released by the Good Food Institute and Plant Based Foods Association. These growth rates helped inform inflated 2021 estimates for Beyond Meat, Maple Leaf Foods and Kellogg's MorningStar Farms brands.

Brian Holland, managing director and senior research analyst at Cowen, said that while he found the companies' estimates to be aspirational, the slowdown has been much faster and more abrupt than expected....

....MUCH MORE


BigCharts

As we have pointed out, the 'tell' was that series of prints in September, 2021 when the stock would not rise above $115.

February 26, 2022
"Fake Meat Is Bleeding Money"
December 1, 2021
Watch Out BYND: "Impossible Foods raises $500M, bringing its lifetime funding to more than $2B"

November 23
Chartology: Remember The Chart Pattern That Preceded The Drop In Beyond Meat? (IWM; BYND)
November 11
ICYMI: Beyond Meat Collapses (BYND)
Oct. 26
Beyond Meat Cut To Underperform By Credit Suisse, Price Target $75 (BYND)
Oct. 22
Beyond Meat Hit Hard By Lowered Guidance (BYND)
October 8
Beyond Meat Does Not Look Well (BYND)
September 7
UPDATED—Beyond Meat: The Thrill Is Gone (BYND)

And dozens more going back to the IPO. Use the 'search blog' box if interested.

Meanwhile, one of the biggest backers of faux meat has man boobs:

I'm not saying it's phytoestrogens in the product but geez, he's our health and wellness guru.

Since I've somehow wandered onto the subject:
"Washington Post Denies Claim New Estrogen-Packed 'Impossible Whopper' Will Make Men Grow Breasts"
Yellow Pea Protein In The Financial Times: People Have Thoughts (but no mention of man boobs)
Posted by at