Beyond Meat Just Had the Best IPO of 2019 as Value Soars to $3.8 Billion

Beyond Meat Inc. piled on the market value, serving up the year’s best first day for a U.S. initial public offering. The maker of vegan beef and sausage substitutes soared, rising as much as 192 percent from its IPO price of $25 share. The shares, which opened at $46, closed their first day of trading Thursday up 163 percent to $65.75 in New York, giving the company a market value of about $3.8 billion. The first-day pop eclipsed the 81 percent gain by Silk Road Medical Inc. in its U.S. debut last month and was the best for a U.S. listing raising at least $200 million since before the 2008 financial crisis. Globally, Beyond Meat bested the debuts this year of all but a handful of small listings, none of them larger than $22 million. The company’s business and Hollywood celebrity backers, including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, helped explain the investor zeal, along with a growing consumer appetite for meat alternatives. Investor and actress Jessica Chastain, who is a vegan, said she cooks Beyond Meat products at home, to the approval of her non-vegan husband and friends. “I love any plant-based product,” Chastain said in an interview at the Nasdaq exchange. She said she invested in Beyond Meat after being on set in Toronto and being unable to find a Beyond Burger at an A&W restaurant. “I tried for four months in Canada to get one and it sold out everywhere,” she said. Chief Executive Officer Ethan Brown doesn’t expect a conflict between making environmentally based decisions and those that serve shareholders. “Consumers are looking for products that enable them to be healthier and reduce their footprint,” he said in an interview. “Every time we’re making a sale we’re furthering our mission and increasing sales.”...MORE