Beyond Meat Launches Quarter 3 Earnings

Beyond Meat reported a widening loss in its third-quarter as U.S. demand for its meat substitutes shrank and higher costs ate into its profits. The company also disappointed investors with its fourth-quarter outlook, indicating that sales aren’t expected to snap back immediately.

Beyond Meat Shares of the company tumbled 18% in extended trading. Beyond reported fiscal third-quarter net loss of $54.8 million, or 87 cents per share, wider than a net loss of $19.3 million, or 31 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by the expected a loss of 39 cents per share.

The company said it faced higher transportation and warehousing costs and increased its inventory write-offs, which hurt its profits. About $9 million was written off due to water damage at one of its plants, which mostly affected packaging.Net sales rose 12.7% to $106.4 million, missing expectations of $109.2 million. Compared with the second quarter, its revenue fell, bucking typical seasonal trends for the company’s products. Customers usually buy more Beyond Burgers during the summer to grill.

Beyond Meat reported strong growth outside the United States, with international grocery and restaurant divisions each seeing sales more than double during the quarter. Beyond is predicting net sales of $85 million to $110 million for those three months. Wall Street was expecting revenue of $131.6 million during the quarter.