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Beyond Meat Last Bullish Analyst Capitulates After 400% Gain

Beyond Meat Last Bullish Analyst Capitulates After 400% Gain

(Bloomberg) -- Beyond Meat Inc. shares are no longer worth buying, according to Wall Street.

The faux meat-maker was downgraded to market perform from outperform at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Inc., losing its last bullish analyst rating after a stratospheric gain of just over 400% since the company listed last month. Beyond Meat shares were down 2.9% at 4:14 a.m. in New York trading before U.S exchanges open.

“The downgrade is driven by valuation considerations as the stock has traded in a highly volatile manner since its IPO likely due to its limited public float,” analyst Alexia Howard wrote in a note. While Beyond Meat is one of the frontrunners in the still-growing plant-based meat category, there is limited upside left in the shares, she said.

Howard’s downgrade follows JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Ken Goldman cutting his rating on Tuesday, which sent shares tumbling 25%. He had been the final bullish analyst among the underwriters of Beyond Meat’s IPO. Goldman also said his downgrade was purely on valuation grounds.

Beyond Meat Last Bullish Analyst Capitulates After 400% Gain

The shares closed at $126.04 on Tuesday compared with the $25 they were sold at in May’s IPO. They had risen 572% through to the end of trading on Monday following a two-day frenzy driven by expectation-busting earnings which now appears to have prompted a wave of analyst caution. Beyond Meat now has nine analyst ratings overall, all holds, and an average price target of $96.

--With assistance from Gaurav Panchal.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Unsted in London at sunsted@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Beth Mellor at bmellor@bloomberg.net, Paul Jarvis

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