Beyond Meat Inc., the maker of plant-sourced protein substitutes, is aiming for the $500 million revenue milestone in 2020.
The El Segundo-based company provided the forecast during an earnings call with analysts on Feb. 27.
Beyond Meat Chief Financial Officer Mark Nelson said the company expects “net revenues to be in the range of $490 million to $510 million, representing year-over-year growth of 64% to 71% compared to 2019.”
The forecast exceeded Zacks Investment Research Inc.’s expectation of $475.1 million. Beyond Meat’s margin for 2020 is expected to be in the range of 33% to 35%.
“The opportunity before us I think is unprecedented,” Beyond Meat President and Chief Executive Ethan Brown told analysts. “The consumer is ready for what we’re doing. You’ll see us make a lot of investment this year in our production capacity, in our international growth, in our marketing and, of course, continuing to research and push forward the idea that you can build a piece of meat directly from plants that is indistinguishable from animal protein.”
Beyond Meat cited net revenues of $297.9 million for 2019, an increase of 239%, and said its net loss for the year narrowed to $12.4 million, down from $29.9 million in 2018.
For the fourth quarter, Beyond Meat’s net sales jumped 212% to $98.5 million, beating Wall Street expectations of $81.7 million.
Beyond Meat said fourth-quarter revenue got a boost from increased sales to international customers, expansion in the number of distribution points, higher sales from existing customers, and contributions from new products introduced in 2019.
Retail revenue, which includes sales at grocery stores, increased 199%, while restaurant and food service sales were up 223% versus the fourth quarter in 2018.
Net loss for the quarter was $500,000 or 1 cent per share, compared to a net loss of $7.5 million, or $1.10 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2018. The reduction was driven by an increase in gross profit and partially offset by higher marketing expenses and continued investment in innovation.
