Beyond Meat (NDQ:BYND) became the latest Reddit meme stock…for a few days before crashing back to earth

It is rarer to see a Reddit meme stock in 2025 than it was in 2021, but we just saw one in Beyond Meat. Some investors will likely have forgotten about this company given the boom and bust in its share price. Others will have likely forgotten about GameStop. But we saw a brief repeat this week…but BYND faded as fast as it took off.

What are the Best ASX Stocks to invest in right now?

Check our buy/sell tips

How we got here

Before we go into detail about what happened, we need to recap two things. First, the BYND story. And second, the trend of ‘Reddit meme stocks’. Beyond Meat listed in 2019 at a time when it was believed plant-based meat was the way of the future. Investors disregarded its high multiples (even higher than Facebook/Meta when it listed) and sent it up 163% in a day and to a peak of a ~$10bn valuation.

But the company was never profitable, and while its top line was growing, it began shrinking too. Plant-based meats, still price-premium, lost ground as consumers found it increasingly difficult to answer the question of why pay a 50-80% premium for something that isn’t the real thing.

As for meme stocks, these are essentially stocks that rise just because of attention and hype on social media. Since 2021, this has occurred through Reddit and the most prominant example is GameStop that went from $20 per share to $300 per share in a matter of days.

GME gained attention because many professional investors saw it as a chance to make money from shorting, but the retail investors won. There have been other meme stocks since then, including some stocks on the ASX like BrainChip. But BYND is arguably the highest profile example since GME.

How BYND became a Reddit meme stock

The irony is that this stock has been in the doldrums for some time, including in recent weeks. Short interest was 64% and it announced a dilutive debt restructuring deal just the previous week. Yet again, revenue missed consensus, and it had fallen 20% year on year. Having previously given full-year guidance, it was withdrawn.

But curiously, on Monday October 20, shares rose 50%. It is hard to pinpoint what happened that led to the spike, although as it got more and more intense it was put down to a classic short squeeze, as shorters had to buy back shares to limit losses as much as they could. S2 Partners data showed that over US$100m in paper losses were recorded in just a handful of days.

But perhaps it was one Dubai-based retail trader (Dimitri Semenikhin) who said he was buying shares that kicked off a rally. Shares surged even more on Tuesday October 21, peaking at $3.62 having been $0.50 the week prior. He said he was not trying to spark a short-term rally and genuinely believed in the fundamentals, still warning retail investors shouldn’t take risks. Some defied him.

BYND was also included in the Roundhill Meme Stock ETF (NYSEARCA:MEME), an indication that it is now in the same boat as GME. To be fair, there was one piece of good news, in the form of an expansion of its partnersihp with Walmart. Beyond will offer a new Beyond Burger 6-pack in over 2,000 stores. Still, if that had been the only news, we don’t imagine such a rally would’ve occurred.

The conclusion: The rally fades

After peaking at over $7 per share, shares closed Thursday, October 23 (US time) at $2.84. Investors who would’ve bought at the peak would be down over 60%, but those who bought at the bottom would still be ahead.

Is it too soon?
byu/Miserable-Midnight75 inwallstreetbets

The bottom line here is that if you want to invest in meme stocks there are only two words that need to be said. Caveat emperor!