Why These Analysts Cut Beyond Meat's Price Target

Beyond Meat Inc BYND reported a higher than the expected loss per share for the fourth quarter due to rising costs.

Mizuho On Beyond Meat: John Baumgartner maintained a Neutral rating for the stock while lowering the price target from $59 to $45.

The company’s “big EBITDA miss saw higher costs across the P&L,” the analyst mentioned.

Baumgartner said in the note he expects Beyond Meat’s gross margin to bottom in the first quarter and the growth in its operating expenses to moderate. He added that there is limited visibility and management’s nest sales guidance “missed the Street by -9% at the midpoint.”

“Potential positives include easy retail sales comps, innovation and expanded distribution but any material benefits are unlikely in H2,” Baumgartner wrote.

BofA Securities On Beyond Meat: Peter Galbo reiterated an Underperform rating for Beyond Meat while reducing the price target from $55 to $45.

“Gross margins were negatively impacted by lower revenue per pound, increased trade discounts and increases in per unit manufacturing costs including logistics, inventory write-offs,” he said.

“Specific to 1Q22, BYND expects only flat to modest revenue growth YoY as retail continues to be challenged and foodservice suffers from omicron-related headwinds,” the BofA Securities analyst mentioned. “We believe this creates a higher hurdle to BYND achieving the midpoint of its full year sales outlook and model the lower end of the range ($568mm),” Galbo added.

BYND Price Action: Shares of Beyond Meat had plummeted 10.98% to $43.62 Friday morning at publication.