Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Following On The News That Beyond Meat's COO Is Not Just A Carnivore But A Cannibal.... (BYND)

From The Wall Street Journal 

Beyond Meat Is Beyond Hope
Of course its stock crashed. The animal kingdom already had a 95% market share.

Beyond Meat stock is crashing. What a stunning development. In 2019 Beyond Meat went public amid massive media coverage, and its stock popped. It reached a high of $234 a share in the summer of 2019. Partnerships with distributors, retail grocery chains and fast-food restaurants were announced. A PR blitz led to fawning press coverage. This is the future. It’s healthy. It’s sustainable. Cow flatulence causes climate change. Eat this fake burger or everyone’s going to die.

Beyond Meat was inundated with initial-public-offering cash, and its products began appearing in restaurants and on grocery shelves. You can find Beyond Meat burgers, breakfast sausages, brats, Italian sausages and something called “Beefy Crumbles” at Walmart. Beyond Meat jerky even started showing up in convenience stores next to the real beef jerky, corn nuts and pork rinds. McDonald’s introduced the McPlant.

The question that many investors, cheerleaders or financial analysts apparently didn’t bother to ask: Who’s going to eat this? If you’re a vegetarian, good for you. But how many vegetarians are there? According to Gallup, about 5% of Americans “consider themselves” vegetarians. Out of the gate, we have a product that 95% of the population has little use for.

Even among vegetarians, how many were ever in the market for something that reminds them of the taste of charred cow flesh? Just a guess, but someone who “considers” himself a vegetarian and gets in line at McDonald’s is probably going to order the usual fare.

With the dot-com booms and busts, we were assured that market share was more important than early profitability, and to an extent that made sense. The competition for eyeballs and brand loyalty was critical. It was a survival-of-the-fittest sprint in the early days, and the winners of the market-share battles eventually figured out how to turn a profit....

....MORE

Yesterday:
"Beyond Meat COO arrested, accused of biting man’s nose after college football game" (BYND)

This has been a fun one: 

BigCharts

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