With Beyond Meat Down 27% in 2026, Should You Buy, Wait, or Walk Away?

Key Points
Beyond Meat stock is down 27% year to date.
A disappointing fourth quarter was the cause for its latest drop.
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When a stock has fallen as far as Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) has over the past few years, there are going to be investors wondering if its worth picking up shares at rock bottom in hopes of a turnaround.
Few stocks have had a trajectory of Beyond Meat. From its IPO at $25 per share in 2019, the plant-based meat company saw its share price skyrocket to more than $196 per share at its height in 2019.
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After some volatility, it spiked again in 2021 during the tech boom to around $180 at a closing high, but since then, it's pretty much been on a downward spiral into penny stock territory.
Beyond Meat stock is currently trading at about $0.57 per share, having nearly lost all of its value. At the time of this writing, the stock is down 27% year to date, including a 16% drop last week since releasing its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings.
With such a beaten-down stock, there is the hope, maybe the temptation, to scoop up a bunch of shares for cheap in case it does turn around. Is that the case with Beyond Meat?
Should you buy, wait, or walk away?
Going beyond meat
The latest drop for Beyond Meat stems from its disappointing fourth-quarter earnings. The firm reported a 19.7% year-over-year decline in revenue to $61.1 million.
Its gross profit plummeted to $1.4 million, from $10 million in the same quarter a year ago. The gross margin plunged to just 2.3%, down from 13.1% a year ago. This was impacted by charges related to excess and obsolete inventory due to the discontinuation of certain product lines and $1.5 million in expenses related to shutting down operations in China.
However, net income jumped to $409.9 million up from a net loss of $44.9 million in the year-ago period. But that was buoyed by a $548.7 million non-cash gain on debt restructuring. Adjusted EBITDA showed a loss of $69 million, which was worse than an adjusted EBITDA loss of $26 million a year ago.
CEO Ethan Brown said the results reflect "ongoing headwinds in the plant-based meat category" along with the financial impact of restructuring initiatives to put it on a path to sustainable operations.
"We enter 2026 with reduced leverage and extended debt maturity, and having added liquidity to our balance sheet," Brown said in the earnings release. "We intend to build on these improvements through the continued pursuit of top-line stabilization and margin expansion."
The company is also rebranding itself to Beyond The Plant Protein Company, which it believes will allow it to enter adjacent food categories, including not just meat substitutes but other areas of plant-based food and drinks.
Wait or walk?
The company did not provide much guidance, other than to say it "continues to experience an elevated level of uncertainty within its operating environment" that will have unforeseen impacts on the company's results.
Its only guidance was for revenue to be in the range of $57 million to $59 million in Q1 2026 -- that would be down from Q4 2025.
The pivot could work for Beyond Meat over time, but nothing is imminent. I'd walk away and maybe revisit in a few quarters to see where things are headed.
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Dave Kovaleski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Beyond Meat. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.