Needham analyst Gerald Pascarelli initiated reporting on Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH) with a Buy rating and a $38 price target.
The analyst says that as the third largest energy drink player, CELH is positioned to benefit from a healthier category revival and growing demand for sugar-free products, creating an enabling environment for sales growth alongside easier year-over-year comparisons.
The analyst writes that while the company recently saw its first year-over-year share loss, they are encouraged by the category’s return to a high single-digit growth rate.
If this trend continues, CELH will benefit from a healthier market environment, easier comparisons and upcoming innovations planned for 2025, the analyst said.
Additionally, inventory optimization challenges appear to have been resolved, which should improve the alignment between sell-through and reported results.
The analyst estimates full-year 2024 revenue and earnings per share at $1.365 billion and $0.68, respectively, and $1.548 billion and $0.93 in fiscal 2025.
Last month, the company reported third-quarter earnings per share of $0.00, missing the Street estimate of $0.04. Quarterly revenue of $265.70 million (down 31%) missed analyst consensus of $267.11 million.
An investor can make a number of decisions when deciding whether a stock is a good buy. In addition to valuation metrics and price action that you’ll find on Benzinga’s quotes pages – like Celsius Holdings’ page, for example – there are factors like whether or not a company pays a dividend every quarter or buys a large chunk of its stock.
These are known as capital allocation programs. Celsius Holdings doesn’t pay a dividend, but obviously has a number of ways in which it can return value to shareholders. Feel free to search Benzinga’s Dividend Calendar to find the next company that will pay a dividend and determine what returns you could get from holding a share of the company.
For example, if you want to earn an annualized return of 14.2%, you would need to buy a share of Ellington Residential before December 31, 2024. Once you do this, you can expect a nominal payout of $0.08 on January 27, 2025.
Buyback programs are of course different and highly variable. A company can approve a buyback program and purchase shares at its discretion over the time period in which the buyback was approved. When you browse the latest news about Celsius Holdings, you’ll often see whether or not the company has recently approved a buyback program. Buyback programs generally serve to support stock prices and act as a backstop for demand.
