Beyond Meat shares selling off on annual report delay, preliminary 4Q revenue

Shares of plant-based meat producer Beyond Meat fell nearly 5% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the company said it would not be able to file its annual report on time. Beyond Meat stock has been “a colossal disappointment,” Motley Fool contributor Will Ebiefung wrote a few days before.

Shares of Beyond Meat dropped nearly 5% in early trading on Tuesday to $0.77 apiece.

On Monday, after the market close, the company announced that it would delay the filing of its 2025 annual report. It said it requires additional time to complete a “review and analysis related to its inventory balances.” Following this, Beyond Meat said it expects to report “a material weakness in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting existed as of December 31, 2025, related to controls associated with the accounting for its inventory provision.” The company described its controls as ineffective and said it is developing a remediation plan. However, it has not yet determined the potential impact on its 2025 financial statements.

Based on preliminary data, Beyond Meat’s revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025 was reported at $61 million. This is in line with the company’s guidance but below Wall Street estimates of $62.6 million, Reuters reported. For the full year, revenue is expected to total $275 million, the company guides.

Shares of Beyond Meat, once a promising startup backed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Bill Gates, repeatedly hit new lows last year. The company has been grappling with softening demand for plant-based meat alternatives in the U.S., Bloomberg and others note. To address these challenges, the firm last summer announced “more aggressive” operating expense reductions. Earlier, it had held discussions with private credit lenders and received fresh funding from a diet-focused nonprofit, Bloomberg reported.

Despite these initiatives, they have not had a fundamental impact on Beyond Meat’s business. In October, however, the stock surged nearly 1,400% in four days.

Several events drove the rally. First, a Reddit user wrote that it was time to “make $BYND great again.” Days later, another user echoed the sentiment: “This isn’t just a veggie burger anymore, it’s a symbol of rebellion... It’s a company that Wall Street gave up on and now it’s us, the people, who decide its value.”

At the same time, Dubai-based retail trader Dmitry Semenikhin said in a YouTube video that he had bought a 4% stake in Beyond Meat. Roundhill Investments, which develops thematic ETFs, also added the stock to its Roundhill Meme Stock ETF.

On October 21, Beyond Meat itself announced plans to expand its partnership with Walmart, the largest retailer in the U.S.

After the rally triggered by these developments, the shares began to decline. In late October, the company announced a significant noncash impairment of certain assets, and in early November said it would delay the release of its quarterly results. When it reported them days later, the earnings showed declines across all metrics and offered nothing for investors to look forward to.

Over the last 12 months, Beyond Meat shares have fallen more than 76%. Since January 1, however, they are down just under 1.5%.

Wall Street remains negative on the stock's prospects: the shares have three analyst ratings, all of them “sell.” The average target price is $0.93 per share, implying upside of nearly 15% from the closing price on Monday.

Shortly before the company released its preliminary results on Monday, Motley Fool contributor Will Ebiefung recommended selling Beyond Meat shares, calling them “a colossal disappointment.” He believes the company’s financial position is so weak that bankruptcy could eventually be on the table, although management has “flatly dismissed these rumors.” Ebiefung argues that the company’s core problem is that it is selling a product consumers no longer want. Strong demand for meat substitutes turned out to be a “fad instead of a lasting shift in consumer tastes.” He suggests the issue may come down to taste, which is difficult to fix.