Celsius CEO: How the energy drinks category is evolving

Shares of Celsius Holdings (CELH) are trading higher Thursday morning after the company issued its fourth quarter report, posting record revenue of $347 million –– a 95% increase year over year. Celsius (CELH) CEO John Fieldly joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the company's performance and review the many partnerships the company has signed to expand distribution and overall success.

When asked about price increases for the company's product amid competitors' pricing adjustments, Fieldly states: "We have a variety of different promos and deals. We'll continue to evolve and see how the category goes. We're being very methodical. If you look at price elasticity, we are part of a daily routine and daily lifestyle so, when you look at consumers looking to cut something out of their budget, likely that extra trip to the restaurant, maybe that dessert, those types of items, we're not really seeing that historically in the energy category. "

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Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video Transcript

- Celsius shares trading higher this morning after reporting record fourth quarter revenue of $347 million. Now, that's up 95% from just a year ago. Now, the company did though, however, see a slight pullback in sales from the previous quarter though. You are looking at share gains of 8% today.

We want to bring in Celsius CEO John Fieldly. John, it's great to have you back here on Yahoo Finance. Another strong quarter here for your company-- $39 million in net income. Talk to us just about where you are seeing that demand and how that sets you up then for the rest of 2024?

- Yeah, no, thanks for having us. It's exciting. It's just a time to celebrate. We're now a billion dollar company. When you see what we put up over-- $1.3 billion, record revenues, record earnings. We see a long runway ahead.

The timing has never been better. We're really changing the way people think about energy drinks, and, right now, the category is about to flip where 50% of energy drinks are going to be sugar free for the first time in history. So really excited about that.

And we're over a 10 share now in the energy category, which hasn't been done in the last decade.

- And so when you look at how you're really playing into this category, it's really gotten a lot of legs on the performance side of your marketing pitch as well. Why do you think that's working well with consumers right now?

- Well, our DNA. We're all about living fit. It's Celsius live fit. It's about accomplish your goals in the gym and outside the gym. It's every day. And some of the partners we partner with, we just signed-- renewed our multiyear deal with Ferrari with F1, we partnered with MLS on a national basis. We're really about inspiring people to be their best day in and day out, and that's what's in our DNA.

We're also expanding into food service for the first time this year. In 2023 we partnered with Jersey Mike's, and we just expanded into over 3,000 Dunkin' Donuts for the first time. So really exciting. People are consuming Celsius outside of traditional energy, so we really think we've got a bigger play here than just the energy category.

- John, pricing is a critical question, especially right now. We've seen Red Bull, we've seen Monster raise their prices. What does your strategy look like for that? Do you have any plans to raise prices?

- Well, I think there's opportunities. Where a premium brand. We have a pricing architecture, promotional strategy we stick to. We'll continue to evolve as we go forward. Right now, we're about growing revenue, bringing new consumers into the portfolio, and inspiring people to live their best life.

- OK. But I'm trying to live my best life on a budget here, John, so I need to know, are prices going up?

- Well, when you look at it, I think-- we're looking at we run a variety of different promos and deals. We'll continue to evolve. We'll see how the category goes. We're being very methodical. But I think when you look at price elasticity, we're part of a daily routine and a daily lifestyle, so when you look at consumers looking to cut something out of their budget, likely that extra trip to the restaurant, maybe that after-- maybe that dessert and those type of items.

We're not really seeing that historically in the energy category.

- John Fieldly, Celsius CEO. I've never seen an instance where you haven't had a Celsius in your hand, John. Always appreciate you taking the time.

- Thank you.