Warren Buffet once said that the key to being a good investor is to invest in businesses that you understand. But with more and more businesses entering the public space, a new category of investor has begun to emerge: Socially Responsible Investing.
In line with that, several interesting stocks represent vegan and sustainable food businesses. In this article, we will go through 5 Vegan Stocks to see how they’re performing in the short term.
Oatly (NASDAQ: OTLY)
One of the most popular vegan businesses currently in the market now is Oatly, a leading supplier of dairy alternatives specifically sourced from oats. Founded in Sweden almost 3 decades ago, it recently expanded its footprint to thousands upon thousands of businesses across the globe. Most notably, Oatly has been the main oat milk option for Starbucks since 2021.
Ever since it debuted on the NASDAQ in 2021 at an opening price of $22, it has since crashed down to $4 per share as of July 10, 2022. Despite this, the business remains young in the market and has an incredibly robust distribution network. As the supply chain settles and people begin their daily routines, expect Oatly to be there as a reliable dairy alternative.
Calavo Growers (NASDAQ: CVGW)
For a more traditional vegan food supplier, we can look to Calavo Growers. Now both a consumer and farm goods company, Calavo Growers started as a California cooperative company focusing on avocado cultivation in 1924. It was in 2002 that the company entered the public through an IPO offering at $7 a share.
If you had bought shares in the company in 2002, you can expect your money to have grown almost 400% to its current price of $42. For those looking for a short-term investment, the price has only moved upwards slightly by about 0.6%, with the recent supply issues exacerbating the cost of goods sold.
Tattooed Chef (NASDAQ: TTCF)
The Tattooed Chef is one of the more innovative vegan food companies to have entered the market back in 2017. They currently specialize in different ready-to-cook meals that utilize full vegan ingredients. At initial valuation, they entered the market with an initial price of $9 but now find themselves hovering over the $6-7 range.
As a fairly new brand with potential, the Tattooed Chef also sports a fairly low beta of 0.58, indicating that its price is still fairly stable compared to the index at large. But their recent stock performance on a 6-month lookback ended at a 56% decrease in value, keeping this new company from ideal investing status.
Local Bounti (NYSE: LOCL)
Another relative newcomer to the public market stage is Local Bounti, a fresh produce company specializing in leafy greens. They claim that they are able to produce as much lettuce with up to 90% less water and land use through innovative agricultural techniques.
Starting off at $9 when it debuted on the NYSE in 2021, Local Bounti has since slumped to the $4 range, owing to its large expenditure on its business. Despite large revenues in 2021, their recent downturn in performance in 2022 has caused some investors to speculate on the longevity of this stock.
Final Thoughts
Many of these vegan companies are admittedly fairly new to the public market and hence have little data to properly analyze their performance on a year-by-year basis. As such, despite some negative price growth in the past year, some companies show promise in their business model and overall actual performance in their respective product markets. Any investor looking to dig into Vegan (and other similar sustainable projects) securities should do their due diligence and explore how each one manages their business. Again, it’s the investor who understands what their investing in that ultimately gets to better control their investment.
Note: Please do not invest money or assets in the financial markets that you cannot afford to lose. This article should not be construed to be investment advice and is for information purposes only