Beyond Meat Poised to Be More Profitable Than Tyson 

Vegan company Beyond Meat is outpacing meat company Tyson in terms of gross profit margins—a measure of profitability that is calculated by subtracting the cost of goods sold from revenue. Financial consultant David Trainer, CEO of independent research firm New Constructs, LLC, penned a report for Forbes outlining Beyond Meat’s financial viability ahead of the company going public this week on NASDAQ under the “BYND” symbol. “The good news for BYND is that, while the company is still relatively small, it’s already showing signs of achieving economies of scale. Gross margins turned positive for the first time in 2018,” Trainer wrote. “More impressively, at 20 percent, its gross margins have already surpassed Tyson Foods, the largest meat producer in the US.” Starting in 2016, Tyson Ventures—the meat company’s investment arm—invested a total of $23 million in Beyond Meat in exchange for a 6.5 percent stake. Last month, Tyson sold its shares—estimated to be worth $79 million at Beyond Meat’s initial $1.2 billion valuation prior to the IPO—to pursue the development of its own plant-based meat alternatives. Trainer predicted that if Beyond Meat continues on its upward trajectory, it will outpace other meat-based competitors. “BYND’s high and rising gross margins raise the possibility that it could become an even more profitable business than existing meat producers if and when consumers accept its meat substitute en masse.”