In May 2019, when Beyond Meat (BYND) went public, there was plenty of hype around the company's product line of plant-based meat substitutes. The company was backed by marquee investors such as Bill Gates, GreatPoint Ventures, Tyson Foods (TSN), and Kleiner Perkins, and expectations called for Beyond Meat to dominate the rapidly growing plant-based food market.
Optimism was so high for Beyond Meat that its IPO was the best-performing public offering by a major U.S. company in almost two decades, since Palm listed in 2000. And revenues at BYND soared through 2021 - but as the Fed's rate-hike campaign took a toll on loss-making companies in 2022, the stock suffered a body blow.
