Celsius Holdings Pulse Check
Can Celsius Out-Energize the Competition?
“In retail, if you are off-shelf, you are not selling... We live or die each day by our supply chains. If you lose distribution, it can set you back six months or put you out of business altogether.”
— John Fieldly, CEO
During sophomore, junior and senior year of college, I was pitching Celsius Holding’s stock in a club, in class or just to campus friends or brothers in my fraternity.
I happened to enter college at Miami University (Ohio) when the energy drink market started erupting… and I started drinking them right away!
I actually ended up pitching Celsius during my sophomore year of college when trying to get into a finance club. The stock hovered around ~$7/share at the time! The below is where the Company has traded during the past ~5 years:
Attached below is one of my Celsius stock pitches from college — would love for all of you to take a look!
I still remember the day during my Finance 401 class (during my senior year) when Celsius and Pepsi announced their partnership (Aug-22), where Pepsi would provide a $550 million equity investment for an 8.5% stake in the business, while also securing long-term distribution control.
I remember walking outside of the classroom to call my friends to see if they were invested. Fun times.
A major reason for the Pepsi deal was to gain immediate access to college campuses.
This made tons of sense to me, as my age group was the largest consumer of energy drinks. During an earnings call, CEO John Fieldly stated that Pepsi had exclusive distribution contracts with campuses covering approximately 61% of the U.S. college student population (a channel that was previously difficult for Celsius to access).
The partnership allowed Celsius products to be sold in campus cafeterias, coolers and vending machines as part of the Pepsi distribution agreements.
Since the good ol’ days of college, Celsius exploded to almost $100/share in mid-2024, then got pummeled back down to the $20’s those next 6 months before 2025… and has now traded back up to around $50/share.
I’ve followed this company, led by innovative CEO John Fieldly, for a long time, and feel like I can provide some helpful context for investors looking into this opportunity as an investment.
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Investment Thesis:
The market currently views Celsius through a fragmented lens — a high-growth brand, struggling with distribution noise coupled with an expensive valuation.
I believe this is fundamentally incorrect.
By early 2026, Celsius has completed its transformation from a single-product company into a multi-brand energy platform.
Institutional investors are still treating Celsius as a hyper-growth compounder that must prove 40% revenue growth indefinitely. The business is definitely sitting at a rare intersection of hypergrowth and operational maturity.
The ‘bears’ also focus on the lack of a traditional moat and intense competition from Monster.
The market is missing the Pepsi Synergy Effect.
We are entering an era of massive operating leverage that the “Fair Value” models online aren’t fully capturing.
With this operating leverage, together with Celsius’ multi-brand portfolio growth, international expansion and potential for rapidly expanding margins, I think Celsius is poised to benefit from multiple catalysts going forward.
Do I think it’s a screaming buy? No. It was in the $20’s when I was buying earlier in 2025! Despite the 100% run up, I do think the company has potential for increased future gains, per the above.
Current Industry Narrative vs. Ground Reality:
