Beyond Meat Inc's (NASDAQ: BYND) stock has been treading south for most of the year.
The stock is down over 30% year-to-date. Yet, over the past five days, the stock has gained more than 24%. Investors in the stock should consider this sudden surge as a dead cat bounce and no more.
So, what fueled the rally in BYND stock momentarily?
- A weaker-than-expected earnings report prompted Beyond Meat to announce a 19% cut in its non-production workforce.
- Beyond Meat stock's short interest is at 47.2%. Dec. 4 saw an extraordinary volume of short shares traded for BYND.
- 2,489,374 was the FINRA short sale volume traded on Dec. 4 - which sent the FINRA Short Volume (FINRA Short Volume / FINRA Total Volume) ratio to 56.58.
- Nov. 30 had also witnessed high short volume trade at 986,297.
- Nov. 29 recorded 960,914.
Fundamentally, not much has changed with the company. Beyond Meat's cash burn rate is high and increasing, and revenue is on the decline. The company has $1.14 billion in convertible notes maturing in 2027, and is exploring strategies to manage this financial commitment with its current resources.
Bottom Line: The recent price bump is just a dead cat bounce. At least two analysts downgraded the stock after its Q3 report, drastically lowering their price target on the stock to the $5-$7 range.
BYND Price Action: Beyond Meat's stock was trading at $8.42 at the time of publication on Tuesday.