Monster Beverage (MNST) Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates, Sales Beat
Monster Beverage Corporation MNST reported better-than-expected sales in second-quarter 2022, while its bottom line lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Moreover, sales improved year over year, driven by continued strong demand for the energy drinks category. However, the ongoing supply-chain disruptions and elevated aluminum can costs hurt earnings.
Monster Beverage’s earnings of 51 cents per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 68 cents and declined 32.2% year over year. The bottom line was impacted by inflationary operational costs for aluminum cans, shipping, freight and other inputs.
Net sales of $1,655.3 million improved 13.2% year over year and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,614 million. Unfavorable currency translations hurt net sales by $53.4 million in the reported quarter. On a currency-adjusted basis, net sales rose 16.9%.
Net sales to customers outside the United States rose 18.8% to $649 million, representing about 39% of the total net sales. On a currency-adjusted basis, sales to customers outside the United States improved 28.6%.
Shares of Monster Beverage fell nearly 5% following the second-quarter 2022 results. Shares of the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have rallied 11.2% in the past three months compared with the industry’s 1.5% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Segmental Performance
Monster Energy Drinks: The segment includes Monster Energy drinks, Reign Total Body Fuel high-performance energy drinks and True North Pure Energy Seltzers. The segment’s net sales increased 12.5% year over year to $1.54 billion. The segment’s sales included a negative impact of $49.4 million from adverse currency rates. On a currency-adjusted basis, net sales for the segment rose 16.1%.
Strategic Brands: In addition to the affordable energy drink brands, the segment includes a range of energy drink brands acquired from Coca-Cola. The segment’s net sales increased 9% year over year to $79.1 million in the second quarter. However, currency headwinds hurt the segment’s sales by $4 million. On a currency-adjusted basis, net sales for the segment declined 4.3%.
Alcohol Brands: Net sales for the segment, which includes various craft beers and hard seltzers purchased as part of the CANarchy transaction on Feb 17, 2022, were $32.4 million for the second quarter.
Other: Net sales for the segment, which includes some products of American Fruits & Flavors sold to independent third-parties (AFF Third-Party Products), declined 24.1% year over year to $6 million.
Monster Beverage Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Monster Beverage Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Monster Beverage Corporation Quote
Costs & Margins
In second-quarter 2022, the company witnessed a significant increase in the cost of sales, which majorly impacted the gross profit and the gross margin rate. The cost of sales of $875.4 million escalated 40% year over year. The increase in the cost of sales was mainly attributed to the higher freight and fuel costs, including import-related expenses for aluminum cans, production inefficiencies, geographical and product sales mix, and higher aluminum commodity pricing. Elevated ingredients and other input costs, comprising secondary packaging materials and increased co-packing fees, also hurt the cost of sales.
The company’s second-quarter 2022 gross margin contracted 1,010 basis points (bps) to 47.1%, driven by higher cost of sales resulting from the aforementioned factors, offset partly by pricing actions.
Operating expenses grew 30.9% year over year to $406.9 million. The increase can be attributed to higher outbound freight and fuel costs; freight inefficiencies and warehouse costs; elevated expenditure for travel and entertainment; higher payroll costs; and increased marketing, sponsorships and endorsements costs.
As a percentage of sales, operating expenses increased 330 bps to 24.6%. Higher operating expense rates mainly resulted from increased distribution costs, and general and administrative expense rates. Selling expenses, as a percentage of net sales, rose 10 bps to 9.1%. Distribution costs, as a percentage of net sales, increased 90 bps to 5.3%. General and administrative expenses, as a percentage of net sales, rose 230 bps year over year to 10.2%.
Operating income of $373 million declined 29.1% year over year, driven by a decrease in the gross margin, as well as higher operating expenses. The operating margin contracted 1,350 bps to 22.5% for the reported quarter.
Other Financials
Monster Beverage ended second-quarter 2022 with cash and cash equivalents of $1,132 million, and total stockholders' equity of $6,809.2 million. Short-term investments as of Jun 30, 2022, were $1,337.8 million, whereas long-term investments were $64.1 million.
In the reported quarter, the company bought back 3.3 million shares for an average price of $86.53 per share, resulting in a total value of $284.1 million. As of Aug 4, 2022, it had $657.4 million remaining under the previously authorized share repurchase plan.
Stocks to Consider
We highlighted some better-ranked stocks from the broader Consumer Staples space, namely Fomento Economico Mexicano FMX, PepsiCo Inc. PEP and Brown-Forman (BF.B).
Fomento Economico Mexicano, alias FEMSA, currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). FMX has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 18.9%, on average. It has a long-term earnings growth rate of 8.8%. The company has declined 11.3% in the past three months.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FEMSA’s current financial-year sales suggests growth of 11.3% from the prior-year reported number, whereas earnings estimates indicate a decline of 3.8%. The consensus mark for FMX’s earnings per share has been unchanged in the past 30 days.
PepsiCo currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 7.7%. PEP has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 3.8%, on average. The company has gained 3.2% in the past three months.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PepsiCo’s current financial-year sales and earnings per share suggests growth of 5.4% and 6.2%, respectively, from the year-ago reported numbers. The consensus mark for PEP’s earnings per share has moved up by a penny in the past 30 days.
Brown-Forman currently has a Zacks Rank #2. BF.B has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 8.1%, on average. The company has rallied 17.8% in the past three months.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Brown-Forman’s current financial year’s sales and earnings per share suggests growth of 7.2% and 14.4%, respectively, from the year-ago reported numbers. The consensus mark for BF.B’s earnings per share has been unchanged in the past 30 days.
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
BrownForman Corporation (BF.B) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (FMX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Monster Beverage Corporation (MNST) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
