Shares of Beyond Meat soar nearly 300% in torrid meme-stock rally. Here's what's going on.

By Joseph Adinolfi and James Rogers

And just like that, a new meme stock is born

Shares of Beyond Meat Inc. are soaring this week amid speculation that the struggling maker of pea-based meat substitutes might be joining the latest cohort of meme stocks.

The company's shares (BYND) have gained nearly 300% since the start of the week, adding to gains from Friday, according to the latest data available from FactSet. The stock was trading at around $2.40 on Tuesday, up another 62%.

Tom Bruni, head of markets and retail investor insights at Stocktwits, said that the rapid run-up in Beyond Meat's shares, coupled with its high short interest, had landed the company on meme-stock traders' radars. As of Tuesday, the Beyond Meat ticker symbol was the second most active on Stocktwits' platform by page views and message volume over the past week, Bruni told MarketWatch. It was sitting only behind the S&P 500 index SPX.

All this social-media interest added up to "significant fuel" that could help push Beyond Meat's share price even higher.

However, the fundamental outlook for the company remained somewhat more murky. Sales of Beyond Meat's products surged during the pandemic but have been falling ever since. The company brought in $464.7 million in sales in 2021, its busiest year ever, but sales declined to $326.5 as of the end of 2024. Beyond Meat's operating cash flows have been consistently negative, according to the company's filings.

"What is missing is a compelling narrative for how the company can fundamentally change its position and actually operate as a profitable business," he added. "Eventually, that will matter because price momentum and narrative are both required to sustain a 'meme stock' on an upward trajectory."

The sudden spike in Beyond Meat's shares marks a turnaround, as the company saw its shares drop to their lowest price on record late last week. The sharp decline was driven by the company's decision to offer to swap more than 300 million shares in exchange for retiring its outstanding convertible notes.

The move helped clean up Beyond Meat's balance sheet, easing some of the financial pressure that had weighed on the company's shares. But it also massively diluted existing shareholders. As a result, the stock declined sharply. It bottomed out at 52 cents a share on Thursday, compared with $2.31 as of the stock-market close on Oct. 1, FactSet data showed.

But on social media, amateur investors spun this dilution into a potential positive for the stock.

In a YouTube video, one investor who claimed to have purchased a large slug of the company's shares explained that the tender offering could help boost the company's shares over the long term. By easing its debt burden, Beyond had given itself more room to maneuver and potentially turn its struggling business around. That view appeared to resonate with investors who took to Reddit and other platforms to cheer on the stock and affirm that they, too, were buying.

"Beyond sold shares to new investors for near $3 per share and used the money to repay its debt. This move was bullish for Beyond, removing its previously high risk of bankruptcy and greatly strengthening its balance sheet," the video's creator said.

On Reddit, much of the commentary hit on familiar themes, with investors focusing on the high short interest in the stock. According to FactSet data, more than 60% of Beyond Meat's shares outstanding were recently held short.

Trading in the company's shares exploded on Monday, with daily volume hitting a record as more than 1.2 billion shares changed hands, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That was 3,080% above the company's 30-day average volume. Monday also marked the company's biggest one-day advance on record in terms of percentage points, as shares rose by 127.7%. Volume remained elevated on Tuesday.

Investors also received another potentially bullish catalyst early Tuesday, when Beyond Meat and Walmart Inc. (WMT) announced a plan to offer certain Beyond Meat products at more than 2,000 Walmart stores. Walmart would also become one of the first national retailers to offer the new Beyond Burger 6-Pack, according to the press release.

While social-media buzz among the retail crowd appeared to play a role in sparking the rally, institutions were benefiting as well. A recent filing from California-based hedge fund Context Capital Management, dated Oct. 15, revealed that the fund was holding more than 20.5 million shares of Beyond Meat. According to FactSet, that makes Context the company's largest shareholder.

Inevitably, the surge in Beyond Meat's stock has sparked comparisons with the 2021 meme-stock frenzy that sent shares of GameStop Corp. (GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) soaring. Since the start of 2025, a new generation of meme stocks has arrived. The most prominent among this newest cohort is Opendoor Technologies Inc. (OPEN), which has seen its shares soar 1,343% from around 50 cents in June to $7.33 in recent trading. Other examples of the 2025 meme-stock cohort are Krispy Kreme Inc. (DNUT), GoPro Inc. (GPRO) and Kohl's Corp. (KSS).

Reddit has once again served as an important hub for investors to tout Beyond Meat's potential. Posts urging investors to buy its shares have flooded popular subreddits including WallStreetBets over the past few days. WallStreetBets has been credited as the birthplace of the original meme-stock boom.

The sudden rally in Beyond Meat's shares has saddled short sellers with $50 million in losses since the start of the week, according to data from S3 Partners, although the shorts were still up $10 million since the start of 2025.

Beyond Meat emerged as something of a pandemic-era darling amid buzz around plant-based meat, and its stock surged to a record closing high of $234.90 on July 26, 2019. However, the stock has collapsed more than 99% since then, making it one of the worst-performing stocks over the past five years.

-Joseph Adinolfi -James Rogers

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10-21-25 1219ET