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Globe and Mail
01-07-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Health & Wellness Tailwinds Boost Celsius: Can It Keep Up the Pace?
As evolving consumer lifestyles drive demand for healthy offerings, Celsius Holdings, Inc. CELH is strategically positioned to resonate well with such trends. The company is capitalizing on the booming health and wellness trends by its " LIVE FIT" campaign, which promotes energy drinks supporting a balanced lifestyle and extending its reach beyond core fitness-focused consumers. CELH "LIVE FIT" platform, which revolves around health, aspiration and daily functionality, strongly relates to today's consumers. As such, the company continues to develop programs under this platform, supported by extensive research to deepen consumer engagement, boost category participation and solidify its position in the growing sugar-free section. With its entirely sugar-free energy drinks and powders under the Celsius and Alani brands, the company has bolstered its leadership in this fast-expanding category. By introducing CELSIUS HYDRATION, which is a new line of zero-sugar, zero-caffeine electrolyte powder sticks, CELH has tapped into the rapidly growing hydration powder segment. Celsius sees an untapped potential among the female community in the energy drinks space. The company is well-positioned to leverage this opportunity with its gender-balanced consumer base, further reinforced by the addition of Alani Nu, a brand highly popular among women. Rising awareness on health, wellness and nutrition redefines the competitive backdrop, with innovation acting as a primary catalyst. CELH's laser focus on health-conscious consumers and strategic expansion into functional beverages will continue to solidify its position. CELH's Competition Amid growing awareness in health and wellness, PepsiCo, Inc. PEP and The Coca-Cola Company KO are giving tough competition to Celsius. PepsiCo is strategically reshaping its product portfolio to align with the evolving consumer preferences, with a sharp focus on functionality, health and affordability. In the beverages category, PEP is intensifying its focus on zero-sugar offerings while extending its reach into functional hydration, powders and tablets. Pepsi Zero Sugar, Gatorade Zero and rapid hydration variants are doing well. PepsiCo's emphasis on a solid innovation pipeline, designed to resonate well with evolving consumer preferences, positions it well for growth. Coca-Cola's strategy of becoming a total beverage company is quite on track. The company has further reinforced its diversified brand portfolio, with a particular focus on low and no-calorie offerings like Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. Coca-Cola's first prebiotic soda, Simply Pop, and its global tea brand, Fuze, have been performing well. With a sharpened focus on wellness and functional innovation, Coca-Cola seems poised to capitalize on this growing trend. CELH's Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates Celsius shares have risen 80.8% year to date against the industry 's 3.2% dip. From a valuation standpoint, CELH trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 47.19X compared with the industry's average of 15.84X. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CELH's 2025 and 2026 EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 15.7% and 42.4%, respectively. The company's EPS estimates for 2025 and 2026 have moved southward in the past 30 days. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Celsius carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Only $1 to See All Zacks' Buys and Sells We're not kidding. Several years ago, we shocked our members by offering them 30-day access to all our picks for the total sum of only $1. No obligation to spend another cent. Thousands have taken advantage of this opportunity. Thousands did not - they thought there must be a catch. Yes, we do have a reason. We want you to get acquainted with our portfolio services like Surprise Trader, Stocks Under $10, Technology Innovators, and more, that closed 256 positions with double- and triple-digit gains in 2024 alone. See Stocks Now >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CocaCola Company (The) (KO): Free Stock Analysis Report PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP): Free Stock Analysis Report Celsius Holdings Inc. (CELH): Free Stock Analysis Report
News.com.au
23-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- News.com.au
Australian brand selling popular item every 2.5 seconds
A brand new item from a beloved 'better for you' confectionary company is selling every 2.5 seconds. Funday Natural Sweets was started by Daniel Kitay, having always loved a sweet treat eating habits, he cut out lollies and dropped 25kg — but he always felt like something was missing. And so, Funday Natural Sweets was born. Earlier this year, the brand launched its lollipop collection, with no added sugar, made with natural flavours and sweeteners. For the last four years, Funday had solely done gummy candy, releasing its own versions of a Party Mix, Peaches and Cream and Sour Cola Bottles to name a few. But they decided to branch out into lollipops, with fan favourite flavours such as pineapple, strawberry and cream, cola and sour apple. Since launch, the brand has sold a single lollipop every 2.5 seconds, stacking up to 35,000 pops a day. 'More and more Aussies are looking for treats and lollies they can feel good about, but they still want the fun that comes it and the flavour — but without all the artificial ingredients and the high sugar,' Mr Kitay told 'What Funday has been able to do is tap into another confectionary sub category and deliver that without all the sugar but still offering the same traditional taste. The interesting thing, when we go through the scoping of a potential product, we look at the traditional product in the market and we found that in a 12 gram lollipop each has 10.3 grams of sugar. 'For us, that was a wakeup moment.' Mr Kitay said he didn't think consumers were aware of the sugar content in a traditional lollipop, as it was such a quintessential part of Australian culture. It was the perfect moment for the brand to dive into the category. He said there were countless rounds of tests and trials to deliver the best possible guilt-free lollipop. 'We don't use any sugar to make our lollies, we use real food ingredients like tapioca starch and chicory root fibre that actually give a sweet flavour. We then add a touch of the all-natural stevia leaf to balance things out,' the Funday website explains. Since its release, the new product has been 'flying' off shelves, with Mr Kitay saying he has been hearing anecdotal feedback from customers, friends and family who are going into stores and being unable to find anything because they're selling out. 'It's the exact type of response we want when we launch a product. It clearly means we're talking to what the customer wants,' he said, adding it also presents a challenge for the brand to try to keep up stock levels so people don't miss out. 'Ultimately, it's one of those moments when we realise and we're onto a winner and we know it straight away.' It's no secret that Funday is a hit among consumers, regularly receiving letters from fans inviting the brand to their weddings, thank you cards, as well as Easter, Christmas and Eid cards. 'Everyone is blown away by how much people love what we're doing,' he said. Since launching four years ago, Funday can be found in 7000 stores across Australia — including Woolworths, The Chemist Warehouse, petrol stations and independent grocers. It's also launched in New Zealand, Singapore, the Middle East and Amazon in the US — and the response has been equally great. 'It's only been four years, so in the life cycle of a business we are so new and fresh so my view in running Funday from the outset has been big business mentality with how we operate — in terms of due process, hiring the right people, setting up the right culture and setting up things for the long term success,' Mr Kitay said. 'The tricky part that I spend a lot of my time on is how do we maintain a start-up mentality within a business that is growing really fast. What separates us from multinationals is the sheer smaller size and the ability to be agile, allows us to respond to market demands way faster than anyone else. It's our secret weapon.' Looking back, Mr Kitay said he set high goals at the outset and has done what he set out for Funday to do. But, for other people who doubted the proposition, the brand's success has been 'surprising'. 'I know there were a lot of doubters in the beginning saying that we'd never be able to do it, it takes years to work with retails — but all the negative doubts has fuelled me to make sure we double down and deliver. 'I am also equally aware of how big it's become.' Mr Kitay kept tight-lipped on what might come next, but did say the new drop of products over the next 12 months would be 'revolutionary' for the industry and building on the same principles of the iconic lollipop. He said a lot of the products would get customers back into enjoying confectionary, adding that the ultimate goal of the business was to help people enjoy lollies like a kid again.
