Beyond Meat Inc. stock price doubled the day it went public

The share price of meat-alternative company Beyond Meat Inc. more than doubled May 2, the day it went on sale, making it the best first-day percentage gain for a U.S.-listed initial public offering in 2019 and the 16th best on record.

"Shares of the plant-based meat substitute company, which went public at $25, opened on the Nasdaq on Thursday at $46 and surged as high as $73, putting its market capitalization at $3.7 billion. The stock closed the day at $65.75, a rise of 163%," Heather Mack and Brian Gormley report for The Wall Street Journal.

Though a strong first day of trading doesn't mean the stock will stay strong, the company's performance highlights the growing popularity of meat alternatives with consumers. "What we are seeing with investors is representative of the same thing we have been seeing with the consumer," Beyond Meat Chief Executive Ethan Brown told Mack and Gormley.

Though Beyond Meat is increasingly popular, and is sold in 30,000 locations nationwide, it still hasn't turned a profit: "For 2018, Beyond Meat reported net revenue of $87.9 million, up from $32.6 million in 2017, and a loss of almost $30 million, versus a $32.6 million loss the previous year," Mack and Gormley report. That may be heartening news for beef and pork industry insiders worried about how meat alternatives will affect traditional meat producers.

"Jarrod Sutton, vice president of domestic marketing for the National Pork Board, said the milk industry's 14% loss of sales to alternatives such as almond milk is a reason the pork industry should take notice of the alternative meat industry," Todd Neeley reports for DTN/The Progressive Farmer.