Beyond Meat Products To Be Sold At 2,400 Walmart Stores; Shares Jump 9.5%

Shares of Beyond Meat jumped 9.5% on Tuesday after the plant-based meat pioneer announced a major expansion with Walmart. Beyond Meat said that the world’s largest retailer will triple the availability of Beyond Burger products to meet the growing demand for its plant-based meat products during the pandemic.

Starting next week, Walmart (WMT) will distribute Beyond Meat’s plant-based burgers at more than 2,400 stores nationwide, from the current 800 stores. Walmart was the first retailer, who began selling Beyond Meat products back in 2015.

Currently, Walmart offers many Beyond Meat (BYND) products such as plant-based burgers and sausages and sausage patties in freezer aisles. However, Beyond Meat’s sausage and sausage patties will not be part of the expanded distribution deal.

Recently on Sept. 21, Beyond Meat announced the expansion of its popular frozen Beyond Breakfast Sausage Patties to thousands of additional stores including Kroger, Super Target, Walmart, Publix and Harris Teeter stores, which will be available by the end of this month. (See BYND stock analysis on TipRanks).

With shares rallying over 119% year-to-date, Wells Fargo analyst John Baumgartner is sticking to his Sell rating on the stock, saying that it’s time to take profits. The analyst believes that while demand for the plant-based meat products is stabilizing, competition is growing and prices are softening.

Currently, the rest of the Street is cautious on the stock. The Moderate Sell analyst consensus is based on 6 Sells, 7 Holds and 2 Buys. The average price target of $131 implies downside potential of about 21%.