Beyond Meat Is Getting Grilled Over Secondary Offering

Companies and Brands

Published: August 1, 2019 1:45 pm

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 7:15 am

Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) shares dropped on Thursday after the faux meat firm announced that it has priced its secondary offering, following its most recent quarterly results. Since it has come public, Beyond Meat’s shares have risen exponentially, seemingly defying analysts and investors who have tried to use conventional valuation metrics to create a reasonable price target.

As for the earnings results, Beyond Meat posted a net loss of $0.24 per share on net revenues of $67.3 million, which compares with consensus estimates calling for a net loss per share of $0.08 and $52.71 million in revenues. In the same period a year ago, the company reported a loss per share of $1.22 on revenues of $17.4 million.

The larger-than-expected loss per share did not outweigh the beat on revenues. Investors in fast-growing companies put a higher value on revenues than on profits.

In terms of the offering, Beyond Meat is selling 3.25 million shares in an underwritten public secondary offering for $160 apiece. However, the company itself is only actually offering 250,000 shares. Moreover, it is the selling stockholders who will be granting the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 487,500 shares at the public offering price.

The company already has raised capital at the IPO, and the market’s untamed reaction told the company that it was far too conservative on its IPO pricing. So for management and insiders to unload shares after a monster run, and including only a token offering for the company’s own benefit, that may feel like a slap in the face to some of its more recent investors.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse are listed as the lead book-running managers for the offering. Merrill Lynch and Jefferies are acting as book-running managers, and William Blair and Raymond James are acting as co-managers for the offering.

Beyond Meat said it would use the net proceeds from its share of the secondary offering to continue to increase its production and supply capabilities, to pay for marketing and promotional activities, and for general working capital purposes.

Shares of Beyond Meat traded down 10% on Thursday to $177.08, in a 52-week range of $45.00 to $239.71. The consensus price target is $150.29.