Stone Fox Capital
Founder, CIO & Portfolio Manager of Stone Fox Capital
PepsiCo is under pressure because consumers can no longer really afford a can of soda, as the company cut its profit outlook citing a slower North American recovery. The stock is approaching its monthly 200-period moving average, a secular bear-market line that breaks only during economic depressions. If it breaks, $75 is the next level. x.comÂ
Celsius is priced as if its story is over when the business is intact, setting up a 3x-4.3x return by 2030. At $28 and a $7.67B market cap, it has $2.97B of trailing revenue, expanding 12% net margins and $323M of free cash flow; its one bad year, 2024, came from a PepsiCo inventory flush unrelated to consumer demand. With 20% annual growth, single-digit international penetration and margins reaching 15%, 2030 EPS of $4.08 at 20-30x gives $82-122 a share. x.comÂ
PepsiCo is cheap against its cash earnings, trading at 12x, or 11x next year's, while beverage companies usually get 17x. That puts fair value at $189.68 to $241.41, 17x next year's cash earnings give or take 12%, leaving $128.50 about 32% under the low end. This is a valuation-levels read off reported earnings and revenue estimates, not fundamental work. x.comÂ
Coca-Cola's retained earnings do little for shareholders when management does not distribute much of the growth. At 27 times earnings, a 2.3% yield with no expected large dividend hikes, special dividend or meaningful buybacks makes look-through earnings a poor basis for the price: EPS rose about $1 in five years while dividends rose only 52 cents. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Celsius may be 30% undervalued while Monster Beverage is 40% overvalued. If Celsius doubles revenue from $3.35 billion in 2026 to $6.7 billion in 2031 without more acquisitions, a big if, while lifting EBITDA margins to 31% and net margins to 24%, the stock has about 230% upside, a 24% CAGR, even at a conservative 10x EBITDA and 20x P/E. Monster is expected to grow EPS only 12% a year in 2027-28 yet trades at 37x forward earnings, when it should be no higher than 24x. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Director Robert Pohlad's $23.7 million open-market share purchase bolsters PepsiCo's risk/reward case. Buying this very solid company near its 200-month moving average looks like a solid setup. x.comÂ
PepsiCo looks unattractive because, since Covid, supermarket sections where shoppers used to load up on its products have looked empty. The bearish view dates back to 2021. x.comÂ
Coca-Cola looks like a great funding short, since nothing makes it immune to the risks that battered its staples peers. GLP-1 drugs, store brands, new entrants and supply-chain inflation should hit it too, and non-sugar drinks only slow the U.S. decline, though international has held up better. About 2% revenue growth is thin support for 25x earnings while peers sit at 2008 valuations; it could fall to 15x unless the other staples rebound dramatically. x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com … Show more
PepsiCo offers a share-price recovery bet as international growth continues and North American demand has room to improve. It owns Pepsi, Lay's, Doritos and Gatorade; Q2 revenue rose 6.4% to $24.2 billion, international beverages organic revenue grew 9%, and management still expects 5-7% core EPS growth in 2026. The recovery still has to happen, as North American beverage volume fell 4% last quarter. x.comÂ
Coca-Cola's forward revenue growth numbers are pitiful, yet the stock trades at 26x next-twelve-month EPS, which makes no sense. x.comÂ