Plant-based giant Beyond Meat is facing a class-action lawsuit from investors who allege that it concealed its need for a big asset writedown.
Beyond Meat just can’t catch a break.
Already battling a stock plunge and falling sales, the plant-based meat maker is now a defendant in a new class-action lawsuit by its investors, who accuse the company of defrauding them.
Legal firms, including The Rosen Law Firm, The Schall Law Firm, Pomerantz LLP, and Faruqi & Faruqi, have all announced filings against Beyond Meat, focusing on the period between February 27 and November 11, 2025.
They allege that the vegan food giant made misleading statements about its focus on cutting expenses and expanding margins, and concealed its need to write off long-lived assets. It’s the latest lawsuit to hit Beyond Meat, which has been forced to diversify beyond meat alternatives and initiate a rebrand to win back its market share amid a plummeting share price.
Why is Beyond Meat getting sued again?
The lawsuit argues that Beyond Meat made materially false or misleading statements and failed to disclose several key financial developments.
This includes the allegation that the book value of some of its long-lived assets – like a manufacturing plant, equipment and leases – exceeded their fair value, making it highly likely that the company would be required to record a material, non-cash impairment charge.
The plaintiffs suggest that this was likely to impair Beyond Meat’s ability to file its periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission on time, and as a result, its public statements “were materially false and misleading at all relevant times”.
Indeed, the company delayed its Q3 earnings report by a week, stating that it needed more time to complete its impairment review. This led to a 16% drop in its stock price on the day.
When it eventually announced the results, it revealed a 13% decrease in year-on-year revenue (though the $70M total was slightly above analysts’ predictions). Its losses, however, swelled to $112M, ascribed to large non-cash impairment charges related to its long-lived assets (a writedown of over $77M), as well as smaller expenses from legal fees, a lease termination, and the closure of its China operations.
The plant-based meat player saw its stock price fall by nearly 9% that day, closing at $1.1 per share. As part of the lawsuit, some of its shareholders say they bought Beyond Meat stock at artificially inflated prices because its executives misled them about the business’s prospects.
They’re now seeking unspecified damages to recoup their losses, with investors having until March 24 to apply as lead plaintiffs on the lawsuit.
A history of lawsuits highlights the company’s troubles
The lawsuit is one of many that Beyond Meat has faced as a public company over the last few years. In 2024, it settled a class-action lawsuit for $7.5M against claims that it had overstated its products’ nutritional benefits, since the protein digestibility of its meat analogues was lower than that of conventional meat.
Last year, a judge threw out a class-action lawsuit by investors who alleged the company misled them about its manufacturing capacities and thus caused its stock price to inflate artificially.
In October, Beyond Meat won a legal dispute against a former co-manufacturer over the termination of a production agreement, with a judge validating its decision to end the deal and denying the latter’s request to reopen the arbitration.
A month later, however, it was found to have infringed a trademark covering the slogans “Great Taste, Plant-Based” and “Plant-Based, Great Taste” in an advertisement for the Beyond Sausage sandwich at Dunkin’, with a court asking it to pay $39M in damages to meat alternative maker Vegadelphia Foods.
Beyond Meat said it would appeal the above decision. At the same time, it is being investigated by a law firm for “potential violations of the federal securities laws”.
The latest lawsuit comes two weeks before it announces its full-year earnings for 2025, with the company forecasting revenue between $60M and $65M for the final quarter. It will end a year when Beyond Meat saw its share price reach an all-time low, became a meme stock, and was forced to bat away bankruptcy rumours.
The slowdown in sales has also led the plant-based firm to go beyond meat, literally, with a new range of clean-label Beyond Ground products made with a fava bean base, and a line of sparkling protein drinks under the Beyond Immerse label.
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