INVESTOR ALERT: Edelson Lechtzin LLP is Investigating Securities Fraud Class Action Claims Against Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND)
NEWTOWN, PA, May 22, 2023 — The law firm of Edelson Lechtzin LLP is investigating securities fraud claims on behalf of all purchasers and holders of Beyond Meat, Inc. (“Beyond Meat” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: BYND) common stock between May 5, 2020, and October 13, 2022, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”).
Investors who purchased Beyond Meat common stock may move the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to appoint them as lead plaintiff, no later than July 10, 2023. Current holders of Beyond Meat stock may pursue corporate governance reforms. Please contact Edelson Lechtzin LLP at 844-696-7492 to discuss your investment losses, or by e-mail at [email protected]. A copy of the class action complaint can be viewed HERE.
Background on Beyond Meat, Inc.
Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Beyond Meat is a global producer of plant-based meat substitutes. Founded in 2009, Beyond Meat makes products such as Beyond Burgers, Beyond Sausages, Beyond Meatballs, and Beyond Pepperoni. In 2019, Beyond Meat became the first plant-based meat company to go public.
The Securities Fraud Claims
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and prospects, and engaged in a scheme to deceive the market. Beyond Meat misled investors by boasting about the success of its product tests with its large-scale partnerships, which include prominent food retailers such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. During this time, certain Beyond Meat executives profited enormously from this deceptive scheme by selling more than $58.3 million of their personally held BYND stock at artificially inflated prices.
Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (i) Beyond Meat was unable to manufacture its meat substitutes at scale to the specifications of its partners; (ii) Beyond Meat suffered from widespread scaling issues, particularly misalignment and delayed decision-making, which led to corresponding production delays; (iii) such issues were exacerbated by Beyond Meat’s disjointed production lines; (iii) and as a result, these problems led to some partners to refuse to pay the high price of Beyond Meat’s products and express doubts about the Company’s ability to produce them at a commercial scale.
The truth began to emerge on October 22, 2021, when Beyond Meat announced that the Company was reducing its third-quarter net revenue outlook by up to $34 million, or 25%. They also revealed that the Company’s expenses and inventories were continuing to rise. As a result of these disclosures, Beyond Meat stock declined by $12.82 per share, or nearly 12%, from $108.62 per share to $95.80 per share.
On November 10, 2021, Beyond Meat announced a $1.8 million write-off of unsold inventory. On this news, the price of Beyond Meat stock declined by $12.55 per share, or nearly 13% from $94.48 per share to $81.93 per share. However, Beyond Meat continued to assure investors about the purported success of its partnerships and Defendant Brown claimed the Company had overcome the challenges they were facing and blamed its poor financials on the COVID-19 pandemic.
On November 17, 2021, a Bloomberg article highlighted the delays in production and execution challenges facing Beyond Meat. On this news, Beyond Meat stock declined by $3.01 per share, or more than 3.5%, from $83.48 per share to $80.97 per share.
On December 9, 2021, after the markets closed, multiple media outlets began to report that Taco Bell had canceled a planned product test due to ongoing quality concerns. As a result, Beyond Meat stock declined by $5.58 per share, or nearly 8%, from $70.09 per share to $64.51 per share.
On October 14, 2022, Beyond Meat announced the departure of several top executives, including the Company’s Chief Operating Officer, Chief Growth Officer, and Chief Financial Officer. As a result, Beyond Meat stock declined $1.43 per share, or over 9.6%, from $14.78 per share to $13.35 per share.
For more information, please contact:
Marc H. Edelson, Esq.
Eric Lechtzin, Esq.
EDELSON LECHTZIN LLP
411 S. State Street, Suite N-300
Newtown, PA 18940
Phone: 844-696-7492 or 215-867-2399 ext. 1
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.edelson-law.com
Edelson Lechtzin LLP is a national class action law firm with offices in Pennsylvania and California. In addition to cases involving securities and investment fraud, our lawyers focus on class and collective litigation in cases alleging violations of the federal antitrust laws, employee benefit plans under ERISA, wage theft and unpaid overtime, consumer fraud, and dangerous and defective drugs and medical devices.
This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions. No class has been certified in this case, so you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. Your ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.