McDonald's PLT sandwich would give Beyond Meat $200M boost

The Golden Arches is testing the menu item in Canada

The rollout of a Beyond Meat plant-tomato-and-lettuce sandwich at McDonald’s restaurants across America would mean big bucks for the maker of plant-based burgers.

The veggie-based dish "could add nearly $200 million to Beyond Meat's sales,” Rupesh Parikh, an analyst at New York-based Oppenheimer, wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.

SNOOP DOGG DROPS NEW DUNKIN' MENU ITEM

Beyond Meat shares have rallied more than $34, or 46 percent, since Jan. 6, the day before Reuters reported rival Impossible Foods was no longer in talks with McDonald’s to produce its plant-based burgers due to supply concerns. As much as $23 of that gain may be due to speculation on an alternative deal with McDonald's, Parikh said.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
BYND BEYOND MEAT INC. 4.89 -0.12 -2.40%

On Jan. 7, Beyond Meat announced its pilot with McDonald’s Canada had been expanded to include an additional 27 stores, bringing the total to 52.

Beyond Meat’s surging stock price has been particularly painful for short-sellers, or investors betting the shares would lose value. They have been saddled with $587 million of losses this year through Monday, according to the financial-analytics firm S3 Partners. The same investors lost $391 million in 2019.

Beyond Meat is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results on Jan. 27. Wall Street analysts are expecting earnings of 1 cent a share on revenue of $76 million.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

The shares have more than doubled since debuting on the Nasdaq on May 2.