Short sellers lose $120 million in a week as Beyond Meat rallies nearly 1,400%

Investors who were betting against plant-based meat producer Beyond Meat lost about $120 million in less than a week. The four-day rally in the small cap sent the shares up nearly 1,400%, with Beyond Meat being called a meme stock.

Short sellers have incurred about $120 million in mark-to-market losses since October 17, according to S3 Partners data cited by Business Insider. As a result, the year-to-date “paper” profit of around $80 million on Beyond Meat short positions has flipped into a loss of roughly $45 million, the publication noted.

The losses stemmed from a four-day rally during which Beyond Meat shares surged 1,380%. On October 16, the stock closed at $0.52 per share; during trading on October 22 it briefly reached $7.69 per share. By the close of that session, the price had already fallen about half, and the selloff continued on October 23-24. At the time of this writing, the shares were trading near $2.46 per share.

Over the four days of sharp appreciation, the paper loss for shorts reached 243%, S3 Partners managing partner Ihor Dusaniwsky told Business Insider. The magnitude of the unexpected losses forced bearish investors to buy about 5.7 million shares to cover positions. According to Business Insider, short interest now equals roughly half of Beyond Meat’s public float.

The rally was fueled in part by a video posted by Dubai-based retail trader Dimitri Semenikhin, known online as Capybara Stocks, who claimed to have bought a 4% stake in Beyond Meat. He posted the video to YouTube on Sunday, October 19, Business Insider reported.

Barron’s flagged a groundswell on social media, with one Reddit post on October 14 urging traders to “make $BYND great again” and arguing the stock “deserves a squeeze.” Eric Jackson, a prominent figure in past meme surges, wrote on X on October 18, "I’m getting flooded by people wanting me to take a position in BYND the last few days: is this some bot campaign?"

That same day, Reddit posts rallied a “retail army,” likening the momentum to prior runs in GameStop and AMC. "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.”

Since late September, Beyond Meat shares had repeatedly set new lows. The stock first fell 36% after the company launched a swap offer for its convertible bonds to reduce leverage. A second collapse – down 48% – followed on October 13, when the company announced that creditors had consented to the swap.

The once-promising startup with investments from Leonardo DiCaprio, is struggling with weakening consumer demand for plant-based meat substitutes in the U.S., its largest market, Bloomberg writes. For the second quarter, the company reported a nearly 20% year-over-year decline in net revenue to $75 million.  

The AI translation of this story was reviewed by a human editor.