Monster Beverage's Monster Gain Scared One Analyst, But Not RBC

(Bloomberg) -- Monster Beverage, which was removed from Citibank’s Focus List two weeks ago, still has plenty of room to run, according to RBC Capital sell-side analyst Nik Modi, who has a multi-year bull-case price target of $100 per share.

Monster shares are up 23 percent year to date through Friday’s close, more than double the S&P 500’s 9.4 percent gain.

“We continue to see 25% upside potential to our $75 base case and 67% upside to our multi-year $100 bull case,” Modi wrote in a note. The shares are likely to be volatile given concerns around Bang Energy and due to persistent uncertainty surrounding the arbitration with Coca-Cola.

Still, Modi points out three potential catalysts that he’s watching: the launch of Reign this month; further traction in China; Red Bull’s pricing strategy.

Modi, who rates Monster Beverage outperform, is no longer the biggest bull on the stock based on sell-side price targets. Last week, Credit Suisse’s Kaumil Gajrawala initiated coverage of the stock with a 12-month objective of $78 per share. His rating is also outperform.

Stifel’s Mark Astrachan (buy, price target $67) pondered potential scenarios of Bang being acquired. Ultimately, the analyst thinks “it makes the most sense” for PepsiCo or Anheuser-Buusch InBev to buy Bang. In addition, he added that “a theoretical acquisition could accelerate a decision by Coke regarding acquiring, or not, the remaining shares in Monster it does not currently own (current ~18.3% stake).”

To contact the reporter on this story: Janet Freund in New York at jfreund11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Scott Schnipper

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