GrowthTurtle
Data Science PhD & IEEE Fellow, Ex-Two Sigma
Celsius is cheap against its cash earnings. It trades at 13x cash earnings and 11x next year's, while beverage companies usually get 18x. Fair value is $44.37 to $56.47, or 18x next year's cash earnings give or take 12%, and the stock sits 35% below the low end, with a pullback zone at $25.33. This is a valuation read on reported earnings and revenue estimates only, with no fundamental work. x.comÂ
Celsius is not expensive at about 20x forward earnings with 15% EPS growth potential. @stock_analysisx notes Wall Street expects Celsius to compound EPS about 15% a year while the stock is down 39% year to date. 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
Celsius looks unattractive because its moats are thin and it does not control the supply chain that matters for its business. Q2 adjusted EBITDA fell 32% year over year and the stock is down 32% to a 52-week low since its Alani Nu acquisition rally. A better P/E would be needed to make it interesting. x.com x.comÂ
Celsius looks attractive at about 18x forward earnings after Alani and Rockstar drove revenue higher while its shares fell; continued international growth and wider distribution through Pepsi are key to the upside case. x.comÂ
Celsius is cheap at about 15x estimated 2027 free cash flow, which would be quite inexpensive if estimates come through. Morgan Stanley scanner data, shared by @JonahLupton, shows volumes up 33% year over year, the core brand up 6.2% and Alani Nu up 99%, and Morgan Stanley calls competition from Costco's Kirkland energy drink overblown. x.com x.comÂ
Celsius increasingly looks like a mature beverage business rather than a hypergrowth story, after a big miss on earnings and revenue. Sales grew just 10%, with growth expected around that level next year, and it is unclear whether this is temporary execution weakness or genuine brand deterioration. At 14x EPS the stock looks cheap, but arguably deserves to until growth stabilizes and reaccelerates. x.comÂ
Celsius is an absolute steal at about 16 times adjusted free cash flow if management is right that its headwinds are short term. That is the kind of multiple mature, disruptable software companies have been getting recently. x.comÂ
Celsius's Energy+ Hydration line can broaden demand by serving people seeking a noncarbonated drink, but customer switching and manufacturing and freight costs limit what it adds. In the 2027 forecast, 35% of $75M in line sales replaces existing Celsius purchases, leaving about $49M in additional revenue and $19M in gross profit after new production costs and avoided costs on displaced products, before marketing and overhead. The test is how much the line adds to the whole franchise. x.comÂ
Celsius's core brand is shrinking and further distribution gains look limited, making it a worse bet than DoorDash. Q2 revenue of $817.9M and adjusted EPS of 36c missed estimates, and organic growth excluding Rockstar was just 2% versus 9% expected, as brand Celsius fell 12% while Alani Nu grew 22%. Management offered little sign of a turnaround, and with the PepsiCo deal four years old, new c-store gains are likely limited. Celsius manages at best 5% organic growth at 16x 2026 earnings. x.comÂ
Celsius's international expansion can double its revenue, yet it trades at a 75% discount to Monster on forward sales and 60% on forward earnings. Energy drinks have cult followings, are recession-proof and form a stable business model. x.com x.comÂ
