Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND)

Key Points

• Call-option activity surged: Traders bought 120,195 Beyond Meat call options, about 47% above the typical daily volume, signaling unusually heavy speculative interest.
• The stock remains under severe pressure: Shares fell 19.7% to $0.42, near the 52-week low, amid exceptionally high trading volume. Beyond Meat also missed quarterly earnings expectations, reporting a $0.09 per-share loss versus an expected $0.08 loss.
• Analyst sentiment is strongly negative: Six analysts rate Beyond Meat a Sell and three rate it Hold, producing a consensus “Strong Sell” rating and a $0.82 target price.

Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ:BYND - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 120,195 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 47% compared to the typical daily volume of 81,521 call options.

Institutional Trading of Beyond Meat

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Beyond Meat in the first quarter worth $25,000. Xponance LLC bought a new stake in Beyond Meat in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in Beyond Meat in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Beyond Meat by 400.2% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 14,786 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 11,830 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Beyond Meat in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.48% of the company's stock.

Beyond Meat Trading Down 19.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:BYND traded down $0.10 on Tuesday, reaching $0.42. 141,982,808 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 45,261,078. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $0.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $0.73. Beyond Meat has a 52 week low of $0.41 and a 52 week high of $7.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.41 million, a P/E ratio of -0.23 and a beta of 2.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.57.

Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $68.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.43 million. Beyond Meat had a net margin of 75.40% and a negative return on equity of 100.55%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Beyond Meat will post -0.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BYND shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Beyond Meat in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Beyond Meat from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Beyond Meat from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Beyond Meat has an average rating of "Strong Sell" and a consensus target price of $0.82.

About Beyond Meat

Beyond Meat, Inc NASDAQ: BYND develops, manufactures and sells plant-based meat substitutes designed to replicate the taste, texture and appearance of animal-based proteins. Since its founding in 2009 by Ethan Brown and initial public offering in 2019, the company has focused on leveraging proprietary technology and ingredient blends to produce a suite of products that cater to both retail and foodservice channels. Beyond Meat's mission centers on offering more sustainable protein options by reducing reliance on livestock farming and its associated environmental footprint.

The company's product portfolio includes Beyond Burger, Beyond Sausage, Beyond Beef and Beyond Chicken, each formulated to appeal to a broad range of consumers seeking meat alternatives without compromising on flavor or cooking versatility.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source