Beyond Meat’s stock sizzles after the plant-patty company served up plans for healthier financials

Above and Beyond Meat… Beyond Meat shares spiked 84% late Tuesday after the faux-meat maker announced plans to flip its patty biz into profitability. Its quarterly revenue fell ~8%, but the drop was less than analysts had expected. Beyond’s US sales slumped by over 20%, both at grocery stores and at restaurants like McDonald’s, but international sales rose. Another thing investors liked: the patty purveyor announced cost cuts that it said would trim $70M+ in operational spend.

• Menu change: Beyond canceled the faux-jerky line it created with Pepsi, and it teased a burger that it says is healthier than its original patty, with less saturated fat.

Not-so-pretty patties… Alt-meat has lost its health halo for some flexitarians (part-time vegetarians), who’ve compared plant-patty nutrition stats to those of real meat. Some have even described Beyond’s products as “ultraprocessed” and “glorified toxic dog food.” Beyond has clapped back against what it calls misinformation pushed by meat lobbies. The patty maker’s other problem is price:

• Burnt: Beyond discounted its products in past years to win back sales from cheaper real meats. Still, faux-meat sales at supermarkets fell 14% from 2022 to last year.

• Flip it: Because discounts didn’t work, Beyond now plans to raise some product prices and focus on combating health stigmas with its new Beyond IV patty.

• Temp check: Rival patty maker Impossible Foods laid off ~20% of its staff. Bloomberg reported that employee shares of the private company lost nearly 90% of their value from 2021 to 2022.