Cowen: Bang's Popularity Continues To Weigh On Monster Energy's Market Share

Monster Beverage Corp MNST is seeing pressure from the viral popularity of its competitor, Bang.

The Analyst

Cowen analyst Vivien Azer downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform and lowered her price target from $69 to $65.

The Thesis

Highly popular energy drink, Bang, is weighing on Monster Beverage’s growth prospects.

Azer says she was hopefully the launch of Reign would be a sufficient response to category disruptor, Bang, but it has not been the case.

“Given Monster’s outsized exposure to the U.S., we expect this will prove problematic,” Azer wrote in a note.

Although the energy drink category remains healthy, average 11.8% growth over the last year, Monster’s has under-performed the category consistently since November 2018, coinciding with Bang’s rise.

Azer says on a total company basis, we have seen Monster cede on average 220 basis points of dollar market share over the last six months.

“To be sure, we appreciate that timing around price increases has put Monster at a competitive disadvantage in the near term, but this market share shift seems to have legs,” said Azer.

Price Action

Monster Beverage shares are up 0.67%, trading at $56.90.