While most companies are struggling during this time, there are a handful of exceptions that have seen their financial figures only get better during this pandemic. While entertainment-related companies tend to come to mind, that’s far from the only market that’s seen growth over the past couple of months. One of the hottest initial public offerings of last year, Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND), had ended up surprising investors and analysts alike on Wednesday when the company blew past its expected sales targets for the quarter.
It’s kind of a surprising piece of news. With so many restaurant closures during this pandemic, demand for alternative meat products was initially expected to be quite low, with Beyond Meat feeling the impact of this reduced demand in its financial figures. However, it appears that this wasn’t the case at all, with regular consumers choosing instead to stockpile Beyond Meat products while they could.
“I am proud of our first-quarter financial results which exceeded our expectations despite an increasingly challenging operating environment due to the COVID-19 health crisis,” said CEO Ethan Brown in an official statement. “The health and safety of our employees and their families is our top priority and we have implemented a series of measures to minimize risks while supporting business continuity.”
Net revenue for the first quarter came in at $97.1 million, a 141% increase from Q1 2019. Beyond Meat’s overall profit margin also remained fairly healthy, coming in at $37.7 million, or 38.8% of revenues. This is also substantially better than what was previously reported last year. Best of all, Beyond Meat has now finally started making a profit.
Overall, this sudden increase in Q1 financial results has many analysts quite excited. With U.S. retail sales having almost tripled year-over-year, many Wall Street experts are bumping their ratings on the stock. This is especially so considering the resilience Beyond Meat has shown during this pandemic.
Shares of the company shot up by as much as 26% in response to the news, with an extra 2.3% increase in after-hours trading as the positivity surrounding the stock continued to linger. Thanks to this jump, Beyond Meat has more than recovered any of its lost shareholder value since the coronavirus pandemic first began. While many investors were scared that Beyond Meat would be another casualty in these trying times, it seems that the company has been doing better than ever, and likely will continue to do so going forward.
Beyond Meat Company Profile
Beyond Meat Inc is a food company based in the United States. It offers a portfolio of revolutionary plant-based meats. The company has developed three core plant-based product platforms including beef, pork and poultry. Its flagship product is The Beyond Burger, is designed to look, cook and taste like traditional ground beef. It generates revenues primarily from sales of its products, including The Beyond Burger, Beyond Sausage, Beyond Chicken and other plant-based meat products. Its customers include mainstream grocery, mass merchandiser and natural retailers, as well as restaurants and other foodservice outlets mainly in the United States. – Warrior Trading News
