Beyond Meat’s (BYND) stock experienced a wild ride, soaring from $0.70 to over $7.00 in just six days. The dramatic rally, fueled by a short-lived meme stock surge, quickly reversed, with shares dropping more than 20% on Thursday to close at $2.84. Despite the volatility, BYND is up over 12% in pre-market trading on Friday, continuing the rollercoaster for investors.
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For context, Beyond Meat is a plant-based protein company that develops and sells meat alternatives, including burgers, sausages, and chicken products.
What’s Happening with Beyond Meat?
The recent jump in Beyond Meat’s stock was largely driven by a new distribution deal with Walmart (WMT). As part of this deal, Walmart will carry Beyond Meat’s products in over 2,000 stores nationwide, marking a major step toward reaching mainstream consumers.
Before this, the surge was boosted by Beyond Meat’s inclusion in the Roundhill Meme Stock ETF (MEME), which invests in popular, high-volatility stocks, leading to a short squeeze.
Notably, a short squeeze happens when a heavily shorted stock rises rapidly, forcing short sellers to buy shares to cover their positions, which pushes the price even higher.
What Lies Ahead for Investors?
Despite the dramatic swings and the recent trading excitement, the company still faces major challenges, including slow sales growth and ongoing unprofitability. So far, Beyond Meat has never posted a yearly profit, and it continues to burn cash. Moreover, the broader slowdown in the plant-based meat market has only added to the pressure.
Looking ahead, the Walmart expansion offers broader visibility, but the company needs to prove it can rebuild consumer interest and move closer to profitability. Until fundamentals improve, the stock may remain volatile and driven more by market speculation than business performance.
Is Beyond Meat a Good Stock to Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Sell consensus rating on BYND stock based on five Sells and three Holds assigned in the past three months. Furthermore, the average Beyond Meat stock price target of $2.20 per share implies a downside of over 22% from the current level.
