Beyond Meat Heads North of the Border

There's a lot of skepticism surrounding BYND shares

The shares of Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ:BYND) are up 1.1% to trade at $75.46 today, after the company announced the launching of Beyond Beef in Canada. This is the faux meat concern's first foray outside of the U.S., and had previously linked with McDonald's (MCD) to test a new plant-based burger in Canada using Beyond Meat patties.

As the weather turned cold, so did Beyond Meat stock. The shares are down 49% in the last three months, and face stiff pressure from their descending 30-day moving average. Nevertheless, BYND is still up 64% from its May 2 opening price of $46.

There's a tremendous amount of skepticism surrounding the equity. Of the 12 brokerages handing out ratings, eight give it a "hold" or "strong sell." And among short sellers, short interest increased by 30% in the two most recent reporting periods, and accounts for a hefty 29% of BYND's total available float.

Now is an opportune time to speculate on BYND's short-term trajectory with options. The stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 50% is in the 1st percentile of its annual range, meaning short-term options on the security are relatively inexpensive at the moment, from a volatility standpoint.