What happened
Shares of Beyond Meat (BYND 6.49%) were rising 3.4% heading into midday trading Friday, on the strength of internet chat room chatter, CNBC's Jim Cramer's continuing to urge Reddit traders to adopt the plant-based meat maker as their next meme stock cause, and an analyst upgrade.
So what
Beyond Meat's stock is heavily shorted with over 25% of its float sold short, but Cramer said the combination of the company's management and the deals such as those with McDonald's and Yum! Brands suggests it doesn't deserve the negativity. He argued for Reddit traders to rally around the stock to force a short squeeze, and he wants to interview on his show those who run the r/WallStreetBets board.
Image source: Getty Images.
In the mix was also Credit Suisse analyst Samik Chatterjee raising his price target on Beyond Meat to $123 per share, though shares closed yesterday at over $142 each. However, he also narrowed the losses he expected to $0.60 per share for the coming year (from $0.61) and to $0.09 per share for the next fiscal year (from $0.10).
Now what
Shares of Beyond Meat are up 32% just this week alone, and as we're heading into a long holiday weekend, it probably explains the softer rise in the stock today.
While trying to rally the troops to effect a short squeeze is fun, investors would do better focusing on the long-term fundamentals of the business -- which, it should be noted, Cramer seems to believe in.
