Bought an immaterial position in a hated stock to learn more - Beyond Meat. Mission driven, focused company. Product is “right” in a number of ways. At 16x annualized sales it’s expensive, but the type of company that may never be cheap. 250% growth, profitable. $BYND
Core product is plant-based meat. Basically the first real meat-like vegetarian burger patty. But they also do sausages, chicken nuggets, etc. Unlike previous vegetarian meat replacements, Beyond has it all, taste, texture and nutritients are all very meat-like. 
The products are strongly appealing to vegetarians, vegans, and people who want to eat less meat. Especially for the last group I consider it the perfect product. The market could be huge and expanding. Annualized sales of $400 million may be just 1% of the addressable US market.
As people become more conscious about their health and climate foot print, Beyond may experience strong tailwinds in the decades to come.
Live stock is a major CO2 contributor (30-50%) and plant-based meat is the potential solution.
Live stock is a major CO2 contributor (30-50%) and plant-based meat is the potential solution.
Does Beyond have a moat? I think so. Big companies like Nestle only have tiny, unfocused R&D budgets. Tend to buy startups instead. Beyond builds up on 10 years of experience, invests some ~$20 million per year into R&D just focused on plant based meat. May buy/copy competitors.
It’s not only about the product, but also be able to produce it at scale. Major competitor „impossible burger“ could not produce enough to partner with McDonald’s. Now Beyond has the deal.
Beyond has already built an impressive distribution network. Partners with many major restaurants and is available in supermarkets across the world. Strong brand recognition - it’s already a verb. Hasn’t been achieved before in the veggie sector.
With the existing network, beyond may distribute new products with ease. For example plant based chicken nuggets. And customers may be eager to try it.
In the future I expect Beyond to roll out more products, which are increasingly better imitations of real meat. This makes it hard to define a potential limit. I hope to just ride the stock for a long time and see what happens. The overall concept makes a ton of sense to me.
Why is it a potentially good investment? We have seen stocks like Coca Cola, monster beverages do phenomenally well for a very long time. Beyond may have a similar “secret sauce” and arguably a pretty big market.
Downside I believe is limited. Almost no debt and a potentially very interesting takeover candidate at half today’s market cap. As always, I will sell quickly if things don’t play out as I hope. Looking forward to learn more. Any thoughts?
Tiger Global has a tiny position and insider ownership is quite high. Check
When beyond meat was introduced in German Lidl supermarkets, it sold out within minutes, causing customer outrage. google.de/amp/s/finance.…
“A Lidl representative ended up apologizing to the public, saying they were trying hard but there were simply no more burgers left from the manufacturer on the market.”
Meanwhile Beyond Meat has increased production capacity 3x (per last conference call).
Meanwhile Beyond Meat has increased production capacity 3x (per last conference call).
