How Celsius Holdings Stock Gained 39% Last Month

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Anders Bylund, The Motley Fool

Fri, Apr 4, 2025, 12:42 PM 3 min read

Shares of energy drink expert Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ: CELH) rose 38.7% in March 2025, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. It was a pretty smooth ride, with no sharp price spikes or quick plunges along the way, as the stock settled in for a sustained bullish trend. It was a welcome period of quiet gains after a long streak of volatility and swooning share prices.

Celsius is quietly growing its global reach

The month came with a couple of newsworthy events.

First, the company appointed longtime PepsiCo executive Eric Hanson as its president and chief operating officer. Hanson's decades of beverage-industry experience should help Celsius blaze cost-effective paths through the global market.
Later, Celsius expanded its distribution network to cover Belgium and Luxembourg. The company's moneymaking operations are still almost completely American, but Celsius is putting a foot in the European door. As with its fledgling distribution efforts in France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, Celsius will work with Japanese beverage giant Suntory Holdings in the Benelux region.

In other words, Celsius isn't resting on its laurels. The health-conscious energy drink brewer is pulling several different levers to promote its business growth, adding an overseas twist to its domestic growth story. As a reminder, PepsiCo is Celsius' exclusive distribution partner in North America, and Hanson has probably worked on that account for some time. He was instrumental in PepsiCo's $4 billion buyout of Rockstar Energy five years ago, and should be a part of any energy drink project with ties to the PepsiCo empire.

Why Celsius stock stays on track amid market turmoil

Now, Celsius shares aren't skyrocketing to record heights these days. PepsiCo's painful inventory adjustment in 2024 left a large bruise on Celsius' financial results and stock returns, and the stock still trades 64% below its 52-week highs.

On the upside, operating this far from peak pricing has made Celsius less vulnerable to broader market volatility. For example, the S&P 500 index fell 8.8% in the last two days due to the introduction of costly tariff policies. Celsius held up quite well under that pressure, dropping just 2% lower. The drama-free price gains should continue despite Wall Street's bearish signals. Celsius investors still have a lot of lost gains left to rebuild.

The thrilling growth stock actually looks affordable at this price level, even after last month's big gains.