McDonald’s McPlant burger selling 3 times better than expected

McDonald’s McPlant burger is selling about three times more or $170 million to $215 million annualized than Piper Sandler analyst Michael Lavery initially forecasted.

Lavery initially estimated a $75 million to $100 million boost in Beyond’s US revenue due to the McPlant.

Initial McPlant sales could prove to be closer to 8 percent to 10 percent of burger sales.

For comparison, an average McDonald’s restaurant typically sells about 110 Big Macs per day.

Participating locations sold around 70 of the plant-based burgers per outlet every day in the chain’s initial small test in December.

McDonald’s began testing the product in November in eight restaurants to ascertain customer response.

Even with such a small sample size, Lavery sees interest and willingness to try the product may be greater than expected.

The fast-food chain will expand the test to about 600 restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth and San Francisco Bay areas on Feb. 14.

Beyond’s stock jumped nearly 3 percent in premarket trading Wednesday, while McDonald’s shares were up just 1 percent.