Beyond Meat plummets 20% on sharp 3rd-quarter earnings miss and weak sales outlook

• Beyond Meat shares tumbled 20% Thursday following weak earnings and lowered guidance.
• Its third-quarter loss of $0.87 a share was wider than the FactSet estimate of $0.37 a share.

Beyond Meat shares sank to their lowest price in more than a year Thursday after the company issued a weak sales outlook and posted a wider loss for the third quarter which was marked by higher costs.

Its loss in the quarter came in at $0.87 per share, wider than the FactSet estimate of a loss of $0.37 a share and bigger than the loss a year ago of $0.31. Sales of $106.4 million also fell short of Wall Street's average call of $109 million.

Shares were down 17% and dropped as much as 20% to $75.32, the lowest price since mid-April 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic was accelerating in the US. The stock ahead of the earnings report had been down about 24% for 2021.

US net sales declined by 13.9% on lower overall demand and severe weather issues while international sales increased. Beyond Meat said transportation and warehousing costs rose as did inventory write-offs during the three months ended October 2.

The fourth-quarter sales outlook also fell short of expectations. The company forecast revenue of $85 million to $110 million, well below the analyst estimate of $131 million. Beyond Meat foresees ongoing labor issues and "general caution among customers" as the ongoing pandemic stokes uncertainty.

"Our third-quarter results reflect variability as we saw a decline from record net revenues just a quarter ago. Despite current disruptions, we remain focused on rapidly advancing key building blocks of long-term growth," said Ethan Brown, Beyond Meat's CEO, in the financial report.