Beyond Meat

The company is bleeding less than it used to. Net loss was cut roughly in half year over year, from 61 million dollars to 28 million dollars. Cash burn slowed sharply too, with operating cash use down to just 5 million dollars in the quarter versus 26 million dollars a year earlier. Management is clearly cutting costs hard to buy itself more time.

After a major debt cleanup, Beyond Meat still has about 206 million dollars in cash on hand. That cushion gives the company a runway to keep operating for a while and to try out new products, like its new Beyond Immerse protein drinks, without needing emergency cash right away.

The core problem will not go away. Revenue dropped 15 percent year over year to 58 million dollars, with the amount of product sold down nearly 20 percent. People are simply buying less plant-based meat, and US foodservice sales fell almost 30 percent. A company this size shrinking this fast is a serious red flag.

Beyond Meat owes about 412 million dollars in debt against only 206 million dollars in cash, and it owes more than it owns. To survive, it keeps printing new shares, ballooning from 76 million shares a year ago to over 455 million. The stock trades under one dollar, which raises the real risk of being kicked off the Nasdaq exchange.