Beyond Meat Up After Bullish BTIG Note, Despite Market Trends

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By Sam Boughedda

Investing.com — Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ:BYND) shares rose around 2.4% Friday after notes from both BTIG and HSBC on the stock.

Burger chain giant McDonald's is extending the plant-based McPlant burger to around 600 locations from eight. BTIG analyst Peter Saleh said while they think "the sales benefit will be nominal for Beyond Meat in 2022, we believe this moves the product one step closer to a national launch, which could be worth several hundred million dollars."

"We applaud Beyond Meat's innovation, and increased distribution through McDonald's (NYSE:MCD), KFC and eventually Pepsi, but await more concrete details," added Saleh, who reiterated a neutral rating.

HSBC analyst Jeremy Fialko upgraded Beyond Meat shares to hold from reduce, keeping a $62 price target, but his comments were not as positive.

The analyst said Beyond Meat is putting itself in a difficult position as it invests significantly in transforming the business from an "asset light co-packer brand to a much more intensive end-to- end producer (all the while expanding base material capacity)."

Fialko added that this will mean "the next couple of years are heavy years of investment." The analyst also notes that growth has stalled. Beyond Meat competes with the Impossible brand in the U.S. market, and Impossible tends to perform better in taste test. And the analyst said a number of meat-alternative makers have reported "a slow-down in the broader category."