Wednesday's Pocket Change: Beyond Meat's Retail Boom
Plus, Nikola disappoints in first earnings report
Beyond Meat Wins Despite Taking a Loss in the Second Quarter
As a packager of food products sold in stores and restaurants, Beyond Meat has both succeeded and struggled during the coronavirus pandemic. The company reported a net loss of $10.2 million in the second quarter, with $9 million of that being attributed to both COVID-19 and early debt extinguishment.
While the company saw a loss of 60.7% in foodservice revenues year-over-year in the US and 56.5% internationally, retail sales increased 194.9% in the US and 166.7% internationally.
Beyond Meat has had pricing power the past few months as meat prices have gone up, which has likely had an impact on its retail success.
Disney Somehow Profits
Due to the closure of its parks around the world, Disney was anticipated to lose 64 cents a share this quarter. Despite an 85% loss in its parks business revenue year-over-year, Disney earned 8 cents per share.
Disney also announced that its three streaming services—Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu—have over 100 million combined subscribers, with Disney+ holding 57.5 million of those at the end of the quarter (the number is now over 60 million). The company hoped to reach 60 million subscribers by 2024.
The company also announced that “Mulan,” which has been delayed to the COVID-related theatre closures, will release exclusively on Disney+ for $29.99. The movie will release September 4 in the US, with subscribers in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Western Europe being able to access it for various different prices.
Disney shares jumped over 6% in after-hours trading.
Nikola is Still Pretty Far Away
In its first earnings report since going public in June, Nikola reported a loss of 16 cents per share, leading to a 17% sell-off in after-hours trading.
This tweet is a pretty good indication of where the (soon to be) electric vehicle producer is right now:
The numbers seem bad considering the run Nikola’s stock had after its IPO. The stock was offered for $33.69 on June 3. By June 9, the stock was selling for $79.73 a share. It has tumbled from there and is now selling for $32.07.
The company doesn’t seem to be in much of a rush to make a splash. Part of the company’s initial attraction came after realizing how successful Tesla’s Cybertruck was despite its ugly look. A concept design for their own pickup truck was released and people loved it.
The truck won’t begin production until the fourth quarter of 2021. Early units will be produced in the company’s Germany factory while its new factory in Coolidge, Arizona is being built. Once completed, the Coolidge factory will be able to produce up to 35,000 trucks per year.