Faking it
OPINION: Demand for red meat is booming, while it seems the heyday of plant-based protein is well past its 'best before' date.
Reports show it has become one of the most 'shorted' companies on the US stock market as investors fret over weaker-than-forecast sales and scepticism grows over the plant-based 'meat' boom.
Short sellers - who make money on share price falls - have piled into the stock.
Short positions on Beyond Meat shares have increased 40% since late October, when the California-based company issued a revenue warning.
The ballooning bets against Beyond Meat come amid rising uncertainty about the growth in plant-based meat: Data from the US and UK show that sales, which soared in 2020, flattened out in 2021.
Although US retailers' sales of plant-based meat grew 1.6% in December, numbers fell between March and November, taking total revenues for the year down 0.5%.
