Trend-setting teens are backing Beyond Meat.
Piper Sandler analysts raised their price target on the plant-based meat company’s stock on Tuesday after its research suggested increasing adoption among that demographic. Piper Sandler’s $178 target is still lower than its current price, though – the stock has rallied 141% this year and closed Tuesday at $181.86.
JC O’Hara, chief market technician at MKM Partners, is willing to get even more bullish on the stock.
“This is one of the better-looking charts out there,” O’Hara told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Tuesday. “What I really like about this setup is the fact that price is currently breaking higher from a multimonth base pattern as we speak, and as it does it’s establishing a new uptrend.”
O’Hara said Beyond Meat faced a zone of overhead resistance around $165 to $170, an area it broke out above early this month. In technical analysis, old resistance levels typically become support and insulate the stock from too much downside in case of any weakness.
“The question becomes where can Beyond go? We have two clear upside price targets — that first level is $200, a nice round number … and the second overhead level that we’re looking at is $240,” said O’Hara. “So, overall, a great chart with plenty of upside left in our opinion.”
A move to $240 would mark an all-time high. Its record currently stands at $239.71, set July 2019.
In the same “Trading Nation” segment, Chantico Global CEO Gina Sanchez said Beyond Meat’s fundamentals have to catch up to the parabolic price action.
“Its revenue growth is meteoric but it is still digging itself out of a negative cash flow hole and negative margins. Now that’s not to say that they’re not going to get there. That meteoric growth is going to help them get there, but they’re trading very rich. I mean, you’re talking 300+ times forward PE, 6,000 times trailing PE,” said Sanchez.
Analysts expect Beyond to post a fiscal year profit of 7 cents a share, according to FactSet, up from a loss of 29 cents a share in 2019. Earnings for 2021 are forecast to leap even higher to 59 cents a share.
The company is expected to report third-quarter earnings on Nov. 2.
