What Happened?
Shares of energy drink company Celsius (NASDAQ: CELH) jumped 3.1% in the afternoon session after Citigroup initiated coverage on the stock with a "Buy" rating and a $55 price target. The investment bank's positive outlook was based on strong momentum in the U.S. energy drink market and significant long-term opportunities for international growth. Citi's analysts noted that Celsius is well-positioned to accelerate sales in 2025, aided by its core brand and the recent acquisition of Alani Nu. Citi highlighted that Celsius has substantial room for growth in its distribution network, as its presence remained significantly below that of competitors like Monster and Red Bull. Currently, only 5% of Celsius's revenue came from outside the U.S., which suggested a large untapped market for global expansion. The firm's price target of $55 represented a potential upside of over 24% from the stock's previous closing price.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $45.20, up 2% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Celsius’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 32 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 29 days ago when the stock gained 7.4% on the news that the major indices rebounded (Nasdaq +1.4%, S&P 500 +1.0%) on hopes the reported ceasefire between Israel and Iran will hold. This de-escalation in a volatile region helped to ease concerns about potential disruptions to global oil supplies, leading to a notable dip in crude oil prices. Additionally, dovish signals from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in his Congressional testimony, reaffirming a "wait-and-see" approach on interest rates, further calmed markets, improving investors' appetite for stocks and other risk assets.
Celsius is up 66.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $45.20 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $48.02 from July 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Celsius’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $9,320.
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