Company Profile
Founded
Celsius (ticker: CELH) is an energy drink company founded in 2004 by Steve Haley.
Ingredients
Celsius Energy Drink contains green tea extract, which boosts mood and energy through its caffeine content, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an antioxidant. Guarana seed extract is used to further increase caffeine content. Ginger root is used both as a flavoring agent and as an anti-inflammatory.
Product selling point
Celsius specializes in functional beverages to help customers achieve goals such as weight loss and energy replenishment. Celsius says its proprietary, clinically proven energy drink offers significant health benefits, including speeding metabolism and burning fat during exercise.
IPO
Celsius (ticker: CELH) went public in 2017.
Global expansion
Celsius has established a global footprint, selling products in 10 countries.
Relationship with PepsiCo
Pepsi’s market position
PepsiCo is not only one of the most recognized brands on the planet, but also the largest distributor of beverages, so PepsiCo’s investment in Celsius is a huge win for Celsius and opens the door to unlimited growth opportunities in the U.S. and overseas.
PepsiCo invests in Celsius
PepsiCo (ticker: PEP) invested $550 million in Celsius to fuel the company’s growth with retailers and independent stores. This watch owns an 8.5% minority stake in Celsius.
The relationship between PepsiCo and Celsius is actually very similar to the relationship between Monster Beverage (ticker: MNST) and Coca-Cola (ticker: KO).
Pepsi becomes a major distribution channel
In January 2024, Celsius expanded its partnership with PepsiCo, expanding its global sales and distribution footprint to Canadian consumers. Building on a distribution agreement that begins in the United States in 2022, PepsiCo is now the exclusive distributor of Celeste in Canada, where the product will be available starting in January 2024.
Other business partners
Amazon.com
Celsius is now available on the Amazon e-commerce platform. During Q2, 2024, company’s sales to Amazon increased 41% to approximately $39.9 million.
Santory
Celsius has also selected Suntory Beverage & Food UK & Ireland as its exclusive sales and distribution partner in the UK, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland. Sales in these regions will begin in 2024.
Ferrari
Earlier this month, Celsius formed a global energy drink partnership with Ferrari (ticker: RACE). Celsius aims to energize Scuderia Ferrari drivers, staff and fans both on and off the track through its beverages.
As Scuderia Ferrari’s Global Partner for the 2024 season and beyond, Celsius is committed to energizing Ferrari drivers and team members during the intense 24-race Grand Prix season. Celsius also hopes Ferrari fans will be able to drink its energy drink on and off the track.
Competitors
Market share of major energy drink vendors
The following is a ranking of the market share of major energy drink manufacturers in the second quarter of 2024, provided by Celsius.

Main rivals
Including Monster Drink (ticker: MNST), Red Bull, Rockstar, C4, Keurig Dr Pepper (: KDP) and other well-known energy drinks. Regarding Monster Beverage, please see my post of “Monster Beverage’s monster level stock returns“
Market differentiation
What sets Celsius apart from similar companies like Monster Beverage or Red Bull is that it avoids the use of artificial flavors, artificial preservatives or high-fructose corn syrup. This differentiation strategy developed by Celsius seems to be popular with consumers.
Targeting consumers group
Celsius’s consumer base is very different from Red Bull and Monster Drinks (or Devil’s Claw in Chinese). The average age of Celsius consumers is younger and more female, considering the brand image and flavor profile.
Capital market performance
Share price performance
As of August 2, 2024, Celsius’s stock price has increased by 2504.27% in the past five years.
Market valuation
As of August 2, 2024, Celsius’s current market value is US$10.41 billion, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.06 times.
Stock split
On December 15, 2023, Celsius completed a 3-for-1 stock split, sending its stock price down from around $150 to over $50.
Celsius strength and weakness
Strength
Celsius is a healthy energy drink company that has experienced rapid growth and taken market share from larger companies like Monster and Red Bull. Celsius has the potential for further growth, particularly with its international expansion and potential new product launches.
Weakness
Celsius is competing for shelf space and trying to expand distribution through small regional operators, but mostly using DTR (direct to retailer), meaning they ship products to stores (either directly or through a retailer’s distribution center) , and then rely on asking employees to put it on the shelves. Many young companies need to start with DTR, but this is not ideal, especially for beverage companies that want to enter cold storage.
Operational performance
Risks
For beverage brands, the ability of distribution channels to spread goods is the most important factor that determines whether the company can grow in the future. At present, Celsius relies on the existing channels of Pepsi and Suntory. For a beverage brand like Celsius that is new to the market and not well-known, this is actually a last resort strategy.
This move by Celsius actually has mixed benefits and disadvantages. If successful, Celsius can use it to expand its market and sales. On the contrary, once there is a problem with Pepsi and Suntory’s existing channels, there will be nothing they can do.
2024 second quarter result
Highlights
- The company’s sales to Amazon grew 41% to about $39.9 million
- Reduction in days of existing inventory at large distributors
- Shares soar after international sales, Amazon channel helps drive revenue
- Sales are expected to begin in Australia, France and New Zealand in the second half of 2024
Q2 result summary
- GAAP EPS of $0.28 beat expectations by $0.05
- Revenue was US$402 million (annual growth 23.4%), exceeding US$9.26 million: North America grew 36.5% annually, and international sales were US$19.6 million, growing 30% annually.
- Club channel sales, annual growth to 80 million US dollars
- Gross profit grew to $209.1 million annually
- Gross profit margin increased from 48.8% to 52.0%
- Adjusted EBITDA grew 29% annually to $100.4 million
Challenges
Celsius’s Q1 2024 revenue suffered a rare decline, mainly due to the impact of inventory adjustments at distribution partner PepsiCo, which purchases 62% of its products.
Because of this reason, after the release of the first quarter financial report of 2024, it fell all the way. As of August 2, 2024, the stock price has fallen by 57.13% from the historical high.
Revenue no longer grows significantly
The following chart of Celsius revenue growth trends over the past thirteen statistical periods provided by Celsius shows that the growth of Celsius revenue is clearly no longer experiencing explosive growth.


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