Beyond Meat Inc.’s shares dipped about 20% in afterhours trading on May 11, following a release of first-quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations.
The El Segundo-based maker of plant-sourced meat products posted a net loss of nearly $101 million, or $1.58 per share on $110 million in revenue. Analysts anticipated a net loss of $1.01 per share and $112 million in net sales.

“In the first quarter, we made good progress against our goal of building tomorrow’s global protein company,” Chief Executive Ethan Brown said in a statement. “Though we recognize that the decisions we are making today in support of our long-run ambition have contributed to challenging near-term results, including a sizable though temporary reduction in gross margin as we took cost-intensive measures to support important strategic launches, we are confident in the future we are building while advancing our mission to bring plant-based meats and their attendant health, climate, natural resource and animal welfare benefits to consumers around the world.”

Beyond Meat’s domestic retail sales totaled $68.2 million in the first quarter, a 6.9% increase compared to the year-ago period, and was “primarily driven by the introduction of Beyond Meat Jerky, partially offset by decreases of other products,” according to the company.

Foodservice revenue, which includes restaurants, was down 7.5% to $15.4 million, which Beyond Meat management attributed to “the discontinuation of distribution at a certain customer, which was included in the year-ago period, and, to a lesser extent, higher trade discounts.”

The company’s international sales added up to $25.7 million, a 6.9% dip, triggered by “increased trade discounts, unfavorable foreign exchange impact and changes in sales mix,” and “partially offset by increased pounds sold.”
Beyond Meat’s guidance for the full year 2022 remained unchanged – management anticipates net revenues in the range of $560 million to $620 million, an increase of 21% to 33% compared to 2021.

The company has more than 1,100 employees and its products are available at approximately 135,000 retail and foodservice outlets in 90 countries. In April it announced that Beyond Chicken Tenders will be available at select Albertsons, CVS, Sprouts and Whole Foods Market stores nationwide, and are expanding into all Kroger stores.