(Reuters) -Beyond Meat Inc missed estimates for quarterly revenue on Wednesday, as the plant-based protein maker battled sizzling competition from deep-pocketed players looking to grab a slice of its market share, sending its shares down 22%.
Waning consumer interest in plant based meat, rising competition from established players such as Tyson Foods Inc and Kellogg Co, and costs associated with the introduction of newer products are hurting the ability of companies such as Beyond Meat to bolster growth.
Beyond Meat’s revenue from U.S. foodservice unit, including sales to restaurants, dropped 7.5% to $15.5 million in the first quarter ended April 2.
“The decrease in U.S. foodservice channel net revenues was primarily attributable to the discontinuation of distribution at a certain customer, which was included in the year-ago period,” Beyond Meat said.
Gross margin was 0.2% of net revenue in the first quarter, compared with 30.2% a year earlier, hurt by its investments to launch a plant-based jerky in partnership with PepsiCo as well as higher manufacturing and logistics costs.
Net revenue in its international business also fell 7% in the quarter.
Overall net revenue was $109.5 million, missing analysts’ expectations of $112.3 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Net loss widened to $100.5 million, or $1.58 cents per share, from $27.3 million, or 43 cents, a year earlier. Analysts were expecting a loss of $1.01 per share.
Beyond Meat, however, reaffirmed its revenue forecast for 2022.
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)