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Beyond Meat shares briefly sizzle on
Walmart deal and meme stock interest
[October 23, 2025]
By DEE-ANN DURBIN
Beyond
Meat's shares briefly sizzled Wednesday before heading back down again.
The plant-based meat company's shares more than doubled early Wednesday
before closing at $3.58 per share, which was down 1%. Still, it was a
surprising comeback for a stock that was trading at an all-time low of
50 cents per share late last week.
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Packages of Beyond Meat's Beyond Burgers and Beyond Sausage, are shown
in this photo, in New York, April 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Richard Drew,
File) |
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Investors cheered Beyond Meat's announcement Tuesday that it's
increasing the availability of some of its products at U.S.
Walmart stores. Beyond Meat said that its chicken pieces, Korean
BBQ-style steak and burger six-packs will now be easier to find
in more than 2,000 Walmart stores.
Beyond Meat also launched a direct-to-consumer website this
week, which will try to build buzz by offering limited releases
of new products.
But perhaps the biggest driver of interest in Beyond Meat is
Roundhill Investments, which added Beyond Meat to its Meme Stock
ETF, or exchange-traded fund, on Monday. The fund consists
solely of meme stocks, which are stocks that gain popularity and
trading volume based on social media hype rather than a
company's financial performance.
Investors have been sporadically turning to meme stocks
throughout 2025 in an effort to find bargains amid a very pricey
stock market. The stocks are often the target of “short
sellers,” or investors betting against the stock.
Beyond Meat was the darling of the plant-based meat industry
when it went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 2019.
But in recent years the El Segundo, California-based company has
been struggling with weak demand for its burgers, sausages,
tenders and other products. Beyond Meat's net revenue was down
15% in the first six months of this year.
Beyond Meat's stock price cratered last week after the company
announced the expiration of lock-up restrictions on some of its
326 million shares of new stock as part of a plan to help it
reduce its debt load and extend the time until its debt matures.
The lock-up had prevented shareholders from selling the stock
but now they were free to do so.
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