Celsius stock surges on earnings beat, boosted analyst price target

The Yahoo Finance Live team break down Celsius’ strong earnings report and boost after Wedbush lifts its price target.

Video transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: It is time for Triple Play, three stocks we are watching in the final 30 minutes of trading. Celsius, Roblox, and Paramount the big picks today. I'm going to kick things off with Celsius.

The energy drink company blasted past expectations, with earnings more than quadrupling in the first quarter and the stock being rewarded in a big way, up more than 20%. The first quarter revenue surged 95% compared to the same period last year, with sales in North America accounting for 96% of that mix. Now, those numbers prompting a number of upgrades today.

Wedbush analysts lifted the company's price target from $115 to $130 a share, maintaining its outperform rating on the stock. Bank of America upgraded the stock from a hold to a buy, with a price target of $125 on the stock. And, Diane, when you think about the market share for Celsius in the US, still at 7.5%, but that is double where it was a year ago. So they've been making big inroads in the market.

- Indeed. I mean, Celsius certainly got a boost-- I mean, it looks like a caffeine boost, in shares today.

AKIKO FUJITA: No pun intended.

- Right. Exactly. No, pun intended this time. Yeah, and, I mean, it's certainly put some things in the rearview mirror with regard to the troubles it had. I mean, it definitely wasn't in as much favor last year, certainly popular and everyone piling in today. I mean, and it's definitely even put some legal issues that it had in its rearview mirror.

I mean, they had to deal with a settlement at the start of this year, with claims with regard to-- they were sued for claiming no preservatives in their drink. I mean, they would argue that the issue that was in play was not a preservative. But they've, again, put those issues in the rear view mirror.

- Yeah. And I would just say the brand recognition, the growth of that, that's been super impressive to me, especially in a space like the energy drink market, which is so crowded with these legacy competitors. So that stuck out to me. And they actually cited that brand awareness as a core catalyst in helping to drive that all time quarterly record revenue growth to $260 million in sales. So I think the momentum is just right for Celsius to continue.