Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Launching New Keurig Model

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) has announced that it will be launching a new higher-end Keurig single-cup coffee brewer to help offset rising competitive threats from companies such as Nestle, Kraft (NYSE: KFT), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE).

Green Mountain has been extremely volatile over the last year as the company faced accounting problems, short-sellers, and questions about its growth trajectory. The negatives, however, have been outweighed by continued excitement over its leading position in the rapidly growing single-cup coffee market and the stock has added better than 50% over the last year - but is trading significantly below its 52-week high of $115.98 after a big plunge in the Fall.

The company's new brewer will be called the Vue and is expected to offer up to 50 compatible varieties of single-serve "K-Cups." The Vue will be able to brew stronger and larger cups of coffee compared to Green Mountain's traditional Keurig machine.

The brewer will cost around $250 and will be available at Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) and on the company's website in the coming weeks. Janney Capital Markets analyst Mitchell Pinheiro wrote in a client note on Wednesday that the Vue "moves the goalposts further away from the competition and we see little, if any, impact from K-Cup patent expiration."

The Chicago Tribune also reports that the new brewer will have a separate dairy frother which will help GMCR compete with expresso offerings from rivals.

In addition, Green Mountain announced that it has reached an agreement with J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM) to sell the Folger's and Millstone coffee brands for the Vue system. Green Mountain shares closed Wednesday's trading session down 2.33% to $65.75.