Beyond Meat shares surged close to +5% on Tuesday, on news of it launching a new, plant-based beef variety that tenderizes the same way real ground beef does.  According to media reports, the new plant-based product will contain pea protein, mung bean protein and brown rice proteins.Last Wednesday, Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons (a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International ) announced that it was now serving breakfast sandwiches made with Beyond Meat’s meat substitutes at almost 4,000 of its locations.

Bernstein downgraded shares of Beyond Meat Wednesday on valuation concerns, joining J.P. Morgan as the latest Wall Street firm this week to cool on the red-hot IPO. There are now no analysts on Wall Street who recommend buying Beyond Meat, a rare phenomenon for a company that just went public last month and comes as a result of its monster run outpacing even the must bullish expectations.

On Tuesday, Beyond Meat got a rating downgrade from J.P. Morgan analysts. Since their IPO in May 3, shares of the plant-based meat substitutes producer has skyrocketed around +600% – something that J.P. Morgan feels reflects a valuation that could potentially make the company vulnerable to a substantial correction in the event of any hiccup in performance.The investment bank downgraded the stock to “neutral” from “overweight” and maintained its price target of $120. However, J.P. Morgan has also indicated that it is not keen on an “underweight” rating on Beyond Meat at this point, since it is hopeful that the latter’s 2019 fundamentals are likely to surpass the Street expectations.

Beyond Meat Inc BYND 34.24% shares rocketed higher by another 26 percent on Friday after the company beat expectations with its first public earnings report.Friday’s big gain continues the red-hot start to life on the public market for the the meatless burger maker after it held its high-profile IPO roughly one month ago.

  Ethan Brown, Beyond Meat's President and Chief Executive Officer, noted that the company upped the ante on both retail and foodservice businesses, as it benefited from first quarter's strong demand.He also expressed that Beyond Meat plans to  expand its distribution network, launch additional innovative products, and invest in growing its infrastructure. Looking ahead, Beyond Meat predicts that revenue would increase 140% over the full year to $210 million – which would lead to an almost break-even adjusted EBITDA.

The canned soup maker also bumped up its full-year profit guidance. Earnings for the quarter came in at 56 cents per share, exceeding analysts’ estimates of 47 cents.Quarterly sales surged +12% to $2.39 billion, compared to estimates of $2.35 billion. For the full year, Campbell projects that its adjusted profit would range between $2.50 and $2.55 per share, compared with prior forecast of $2.45 and $2.53. Apparently trying to bulk up its snacks business, Campbell Soup acquired snacks maker Snyder’s Lance for $4.87 billion last year.

KFC is joining the long list of restaurants thinking about adding plant-based meat substitutes to its menu.

Although he believes that the company’s earnings could beat consensus estimates by two cents a share when it reports its results next month, he also seems to think that earnings will most likely fall short of consensus expectations going forward. The company has had its share of challenges in recent times.In January, it voluntarily recalled certain bags of its Gold Medal branded unbleached flour over salmonella concerns. However, there could be some potential tailwinds (atleast for the near-term).

Production will begin in the Netherlands and start rolling out its plant-based meat substitutes by early 2020. Beyond’s stock, valued at $5 billion, has surged 241% since it went public at the beginning of May.After the conclusion of talks with Zandbergen, it will be Beyond’s first venture in Europe. According to analysts, 22% of Europeans are trying to reduce meat consumption and opting for ‘flexitarian’ diet that includes alternatives closely mimicking the actual taste and texture of meat. This partnership with Zandbergen means now it can make its vegan meat alternatives in the Netherlands at a new manufacturing facility.

Wall Street banks severely underestimated the popularity of plant-based foods when pricing the market debut of Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND).The miscalculation has proved costly.

Even though Chick-fil-A’s menu and motto has been centered on chicken for nearly 25 years now, the Atlanta-based company is contemplating adding vegan foods to its existing limited menu, especially the plant-based meat substitutes.Currently, the company’s menu does not have any vegan entrée items. If this addition goes through, then the company will join the cohort of other plant-based meat substitute start-ups like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat (BYND), whose footsteps McDonalds (MCD), Taco Bell (TACO) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) have already been following. McDonalds already sells veggie burgers outside the U.S. markets, but it is yet to bring them stateside. U.S.

Following the footsteps of Beyond Meat (BYND), Swiss food giant Nestle has rolled out its own plant-based meat substitutes in the form of vegan burger called ‘Incredible Burger’ in eight European countries and plans to introduce the Awesome Burger in the United States later this year.The product is already being carried out in 1,500 outlets on the continent, including McDonald's (MCD). The company’s CEO believes that being a nascent market, plant-based meat substitutes, foods that closely mimic the taste and texture of actual meat, is a mine that could be explored. Awesome burgers are expected to be available in U.S. retail stores, quick-service restaurants and food service operators across the nation. ‘Awesome Burger’ vegan burgers for the U.S. contingent are expected to hit the U.S. markets this fall, a product made to complement Nestle's Sweet Earth branded veggie-centric burgers. But Nestle is going to face stiff competition especially from Beyond Meat who debuted in the p

This announcement sent Beyond Meat’s stock down 6% at the market opening, before rebounding as high as 7% against steeper losses in the broader market. Even though Beyond’s IPO debut remains that strongest this year, Tyson’s market value at $22.66 billion surpasses Beyond by almost $19 billion. Yet, Beyond and other such plant-based meat substitute manufacturers like Impossible Foods continue to threaten Tyson, which is struggling to capture the market through its products that more closely mimic the taste and texture of actual meat. Although the number of vegan and vegetarian customers has remained stable over the past decade, there is a rise of ‘flexitarian’ diets, where consumers are embracing plant-based substitutes in their diet.The U.S. meat substitute market is currently valued at about $1.44 billion but is expected to grow 74% to $2.5 billion by 2023. However, this market is not easy to grasp, especially for upstarts and even Beyond and Impossible Foods conti

Kraft Heinz said in a filing Monday it will restate its financial statements for 2016 and 2017 by $181 million, after a review into its procurement and accounting procedures discovered employee misconduct.Read More...

Kellogg Co is replacing its chief financial officer, and the cereal, breakfast foods and snacks-maker reported a 36.5% decline in first-quarter earnings, citing a strong U.S. dollar and higher costs. CFO Fareed Khan will be replaced on July 1 by Amit Banati, who heads the company’s Asia Pacific, Africa and Middle East business. In addition to the stronger dollar, quarterly earnings were hit by higher spending on divestitures, transportation and commodities costs. Excluding items, Kellogg’s earnings were $1.01 per share, topping analysts’ estimates of 95 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The news of the exit of CEO, Bernardo Hees, only adds to its ongoing troubles by denting the company’s reputation. Nevertheless, the company’s shares rose 1.3% on Monday following the announcement that former Anheuser-Busch InBev executive Miguel Patricio will be the new CEO. Valued at $40.2 billion, the company’s stock fell more than 43% in the last year.Sales have stagnated coupled with increased commodity costs resulting in shortage of cost cutting. But there's more. The company received a subpoena from the SEC earlier this year over accounting policies and internal controls.

Lamb Weston reported better-than-expected revenues and earnings for its third quarter. The packaged potato products maker had earnings of 95 cents per share, beating analysts’ expectations of 83 cents per share.Revenue for the quarter jumped +7% year-over-year to $927 million, surpassing analysts’ expected $898.5 million. President and CEO Tom Werner emphasized “good balance of price/mix improvement and volume growth” alongwith “operating efficiencies and cost savings” to have boosted margins. The company forecasts that its full-year net sales would grow in the high-single digits, up from its previous estimate of mid- to high-single digits. 

After being been on Campbell Soup’s board for almost 16 years, chairman and director Les C. Vinney is retiring. On Thursday, the canned soup maker announced that Vinney has decided to step down due to “other personal commitments."McLoughlin, age 62, has been a Campbell's director since 2015, and was its interim president and chief executive from May 2018 to January.

Conagra Brands Inc. shares jumped more than +11% Thursday, as the packaged food company reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal third quarter. For the three months ended February 24, Conagra generated earnings of 51 cents per share, beating analysts’ estimates of 49 cents per share.What helped boost earnings was an increase in Conagra's product prices as the company sought to offset higher transportation and commodity costs. The company's revenue surged +35.7% year-over-year to $2.71 billion in the quarter.

General Mills scooped larger-than-expected earnings in the fiscal third quarter, and also raised its full-year guidance. For the three months ended February 24, the consumer foods company had adjusted earnings of 74 cents a share, beating analysts’ expectations of 69 cents a share (based on FactSet poll). Sales for the quarter rose +8% year-over-year to $4.2 billion. Organic sales grew by +1% during the quarter, beating Wall Street estimates of +0.6%. Despite headwinds in Europe and Australia markets, General Mills’ 2018 acquisition of pet-food maker Blue Buffalo, strong sales performance in Asia and Latin America boosted the company’s overall performance. Its cost-cutting plan which includes cutting 625 jobs by this spring, also lifted profits, according to the company. General Mills raised its fiscal 2019 outlook on earnings growth to a range of flat to up +1%, compared to its previous forecast of flat to down -3%.Analysts were expecting earning