Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) is slated to report its fourth-quarter 2019 earnings results on Thursday after the market close. The plant-based meat maker’s results will be hurt by the production shortfall as demand for its products will continue to exceed expectations. The sales of fresh products, as well as the net selling price per pound of fresh platform products, will continue to drive the top line.
Over the next several years, the company expects that gross profit improvements will be delivered primarily through improved volume leverage, greater internalization of manufacturing footprint, materials and packaging input cost reductions, tolling fee efficiencies, and improved supply chain logistics and distribution costs.
The company continues to face increased competition in the faux meat category which is likely to lower the growth rate. Apart from this, other players including Impossible Foods, Kroger (NYSE: KR), Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN), and Kellogg (NYSE: K) are venturing into the meat alternatives, which could lower the revenue for Beyond Meat.
Beyond Meat is expected to continue to rapidly innovate in order to capture a larger market share of consumers who typically eat animal-based meats. The company expects the research and development expenses to increase somewhat due to the innovation but will decline as a percentage of net revenues as it continues to scale production.
Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $0.01 per share on revenue of $79.5 million for the fourth quarter. The company has surprised investors by beating analysts’ expectations twice in the past three quarters.
For the third quarter, Beyond Meat swung to a profit from a loss last year driven by an increase in revenues. The top-line benefited from strong sales growth both in the Retail and Restaurant & Foodservice channels. There was an acceleration in the distribution, including new strategic customers, international customers and increased demand from existing customers.
Buoyed by the positive results, the management revised up its full-year 2019 revenue forecast to the range from $265 million to $275 million from the previous outlook of around $240 million. The forecast for adjusted EBITDA is around $20 million.
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