Beyond Meat stock price soars amid fear of a coronavirus beef and pork shortage

Ethan Brown, founder and chief executive of Beyond Meat, at his company’s headquarters in El Segundo in February 2019. “The market’s taking that as if there’s a shortage out there; Beyond Meat can potentially benefit,” said Rupesh Parikh, a senior analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. who tracks food, grocery and consumer products. A surge in demand could provide some needed relief for Beyond Meat, whose revenue depends heavily on food service and restaurant businesses pummeled by social-distancing measures and stay-at-home orders. Donald McLee, an analyst at Berenberg Capital Markets, said the company has found a “perfect storm” with the specter of a meat shortage combined with Beyond Meat’s announcement last week of a deal with Starbucks Corp. to introduce its products in China. “That’s why I think you’ve been seeing the stock trade up a lot more.” Parikh sees Beyond Meat’s exposure to the beleaguered restaurant sector as a potential threat to its performance going forward.