Comparing Monster Beverage (MNST) and Its Rivals

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) is one of 137 publicly-traded companies in the “Beverages” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Monster Beverage to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Monster Beverage and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Monster Beverage	23.08%	26.02%	21.21%
Monster Beverage Competitors	-8.60%	-34.42%	0.16%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Monster Beverage and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Monster Beverage	0	8	15	1	2.71
Monster Beverage Competitors	1281	4320	5764	230	2.43

Monster Beverage currently has a consensus price target of $71.86, suggesting a potential upside of 51.80%. As a group, “Beverages” companies have a potential upside of 8.80%. Given Monster Beverage’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Monster Beverage is more favorable than its rivals.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

72.4% of Monster Beverage shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.3% of shares of all “Beverages” companies are held by institutional investors. 8.1% of Monster Beverage shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.4% of shares of all “Beverages” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Monster Beverage has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Monster Beverage’s rivals have a beta of -0.24, meaning that their average share price is 124% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Monster Beverage and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Monster Beverage	$8.29 billion	$1.91 billion	43.83
Monster Beverage Competitors	$52.18 billion	$869.16 million	9.25

Monster Beverage’s rivals have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Monster Beverage. Monster Beverage is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Monster Beverage beats its rivals on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

Monster Beverage Company Profile

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in development, marketing, sale, and distribution of energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, Alcohol Brands, and Other. It offers carbonated non-carbonated energy drinks, ready-to-drink iced teas, lemonades, juice cocktails, single-serve juices and fruit beverages, ready-to-drink dairy and coffee drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and single-serve still waters, and sodas that are considered natural, sparkling juices, and flavored sparkling beverages. The company sells its products to full service beverage bottlers/distributors, retail grocery and specialty chains, wholesalers, club stores, mass merchandisers, convenience chains, food service customers, value stores, e-commerce retailers, and the military; and concentrates and/or beverage bases to authorized bottling and canning operations. It provides its products under the Monster Energy, Monster Energy Ultra, Monster Rehab, Monster Energy Nitro, Java Monster, Punch Monster, Juice Monster, Muscle Monster, Espresso Monster, Monster Tour Water, Fury, Monster MAXX, Caffe Monster, Monster Hydro, Monster HydroSport Super Fuel, Monster Dragon Tea, Reign Total Body Fuel, and Reign Inferno Thermogenic Fuel, Reign Storm, Bang Energy, NOS, Full Throttle, Burn, Mother, Nalu, Ultra Energy, Play and Power Play (stylized), Relentless, BPM, BU, Gladiator, Samurai, Live+, Predator, and Fury brands. The company was formerly known as Hansen Natural Corporation and changed its name to Monster Beverage Corporation in January 2012. Monster Beverage Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Corona, California.