Cooking up change in a well-entrenched, well-capitalized industry isn't easy.
Such is the story of the ticker symbol BYND, formally known down supermarket aisles across America as Beyond Meat (BYND).
While the price of Beyond Meat stock has changed over the years, its CEO and founder Ethan Brown hasn’t. The basketball-loving former fuel cell industry exec remains laser-focused on taking the company he founded in 2009 with his own savings to the next level.
"We believe the arc of history is on our side and that we're going to make this thing into the long-term success that we've been after," Brown said on the latest episode of Yahoo Finance's Lead This Way (video above).
Beyond Meat burst onto investors' radar on May 5, 2019, with a sizzling initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
Investors devoured shares of a company they saw as the leader in the budding plant-based food movement. The company priced its IPO at $25 a share, opened for trading at $46, and then surged to $65.75 by the close. The gain when that closing bell sounded: a tasty 163%.
From there, it was a whirlwind of activity for Beyond Meat and Brown, with big deals with global restaurant chains such as Yum! Brands-owned KFC and Dunkin’ Donuts (YUM), expansion plans into the refrigerated food sections at Target (TGT) and retailers overseas, and efforts underway to expand manufacturing capacity and create new plant-based items.
By July 2019, shares of Beyond Meat hit a peak of $234.90 a share.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic hammered the restaurant industry, and its financial toll sent people back to cheaper meat-based items at supermarkets. Beyond Meat’s impressive momentum stalled along with the rest of the plant-based food movement, including at rival Impossible Foods.
Along the way, attacks from entrenched parties in the meat industry and media on the healthiness of plant-based items hurt Beyond Meat’s standing with consumers. By November 2022, with losses eating into cash flow, the company was forced to lay off 19% of its workforce.
Then in November of this year, Beyond Meat — which has cut prices to stimulate demand — said it would slash 19% of its non-production workforce after a softer-than-expected third quarter.
Third quarter sales fell 8.7% from the prior year to $75.3 million. The company lost $57.5 million on an adjusted operating profit basis.
"You know that there's going to be resistance to change, and maybe early on we felt that when we first launched, and particularly after the IPO, that it was going to happen overnight," Brown told Yahoo Finance several months before the latest round of layoffs. "That obviously has not proven to be the case."
"But the very reason that we started this company and the very reason that consumers are reaching for a product strengthens every single day, whether it's the health angle, whether it's climate, whether it's the energy and water use or animal welfare," Brown continued. "All of those issues are intensifying, and we have a solution that is available to anyone who wants it."
Today, Beyond Meat stock trades at $8.95 a share — well off its dizzying post-IPO heights. The company's market cap is $577.6 million compared to $18.46 billion for meat king Tyson (TSN), per Yahoo Finance comparison data.
"In terms of what’s driving the US softness, it’s more of the same: Consumers just continue to shy away from the category for a variety of reasons, including taste and perceived health benefits (or the lack thereof)," JPMorgan packaged food analyst Ken Goldman said.
Goldman rates Beyond Meat shares Underweight, the equivalent of a Sell rating.
Meanwhile, Brown remains focused on defying the critics. Beyond Meat has recently opened a sprawling 288,000-square-foot headquarters in a former aircraft hangar in El Segundo, Calif., steps away from the HQ of Barbie maker Mattel (MAT). The location is outfitted with a state-of-the-art test kitchen and a generally open floor plan that may foster the next big thing in plant-based food.
The new facility even has a McDonald’s (MCD) themed test kitchen where the company focuses on cooking up potential new items for the Golden Arches.
The 6-foot-5 Brown has a corner office with his KPIs (key performance indicators) on the outside wall to encourage employee discussion. Brown often makes the rounds in the building to chat up employees with his trademark cool, welcoming vibe.
Brown acknowledged that the road ahead won’t be easy and he isn't yet in the mindset to reflect on the path of the business to this point. But he will not be deterred in his personal mission to do good for the planet by leading with heart and hustle.
"I have to see [my mission] through to completion," Brown said. "I think it'll be something [that] when it's said and done, I might look back. But right now I'm in the fight, so it's hard to see."
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter/X @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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