Beyond Meat (BYND) Supersizes 12% Pre-Market, Thanks to McDonald’s

The stock of Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) has continued its upward trend during Friday’s pre-market hours. This follows an announcement by McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) that they are testing a plant-based meat burger at some of its locations in Canada starting next week.

After closing Thursday’s trading session at $154.34, Beyond Meat surged by 11.58% early Friday.

The upward trend commenced on Thursday as the stock opened the day at $139.30 but closed the session nearly 11% higher. This coincided with an announcement by fast-food giant McDonald’s that it would be trying out a burger made with Beyond Meat’s plant-based patty at some of its outlets in Canada.

McDonald’s late to the plant burger party

The burger branded P.L.T (plant, lettuce and tomato) will be tested out over a period of three months in southwestern Ontario. It will cost C$6.49 (approximately US$4.90) excluding tax.

The founder and CEO of the plant-based meat substitutes maker, Ethan Brown, hailed the development as having been a ‘central and defining goal’ since the inception of the firm.

As rivals such as Burger King introduced plant-based burger, McDonald’s had hesitated over fears that it wasn’t a sustainable consumer trend. The test will now allow McDonald’s to “learn more about real-world implications of serving the P.L.T., including customer demand and impact on restaurant operations.”

Time to get out of Beyond Meat shorts?

Having debuted on the market at the IPO price of $25, Beyond Meat has now appreciated by over 520%. Still, the stock has lost 35% from its record high of $239 registered in July.

Per Ihor Dusaniwsky, an analyst at S3 Partners, the stock has been a ‘major short sale target’ since the company went public. The analyst is now warning of an increased likelihood of a short squeeze happening:

…with mark-to-market losses mounting, stock borrow rates accelerating to the upside and stock recalls hitting the street the likelihood of a short squeeze is very high.