Thanks to the outlandish valuation on the stock, Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND), has attracted a decent amount of short sellers in its few days of trading. According to the most recent reports, over 40% of its shares are currently being shorted. If the meat substitute company is hoping to make a point, the first quarter-earnings would be the right place and time.
Beyond Meat will report its maiden earnings results on Thursday, June 6, after the regular trading hours. Analysts have projected a loss of 15 cents per share on revenues of $40 million, which is almost half of what the company achieved in the whole of last year.
For the time being, Wall Street may ignore the bottom-line figures: Beyond Meat is a budding company where cash is more likely to be used to drive growth than to just report profits. The top-line is where the company will need to deliver.
The stock has almost quadrupled since its IPO early last month, briefly breaching the $100 mark. The positive rally was spurred by the company’s remarkable history of revenue growth and investor confidence in the alternate meat industry, which is set to grow at an annual rate of 40% over the next 10 years.
Earlier today a report by the Wall Street Journal that stated that plant-based meat product manufacturers are struggling to meet the rising demand, spurred another stock rally.
Beyond Meat will emerge a winner if it delivers big on the top-line. If it also gives a full year guidance, it will be an icing on the cake.
The El Segundo, California-based company’s market cap is almost 70 times its 2018 full-year revenue, thus making the valuation beyond reason. Post the Q1 results, investors will be looking to find the reasons.