Lead Underwriter Downgrades Beyond Meat Shares

Shares of Los Angeles-based producer of plant-based meat substitutes Beyond Meat Inc., saw its shares slide on Tuesday after receiving a downgrade from one of its lead underwriters.

The stock fell as much as 22% after Wall Street learned that J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock citing that exponential growth expected from the plant-based burger was now priced in.

Analyst Ken Goldman cut Beyond Meat’s rating to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’ and said it was “purely a valuation call”.

He remarked that the stock is now “beyond our price target.” Shares of Beyond Meat had quadruple since its debut last month. The bank has a price target of $120.

Goldman last week had written that “at some point, the extraordinary revenue and profit potential embedded in Beyond Meat… will be priced in.”

“We think this day has arrived,” the analyst’s newest note said.

On Wednesday, shares bounced back, soaring as much as over 17% despite being downgraded by Bernstein from “outperform” to “market perform.” The firm did however raise its price target on the stock to $123 from $107.

With these downgrades the stock now has zero “buy” ratings.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) and have not been compensated for this article.