Monster Beverage 1Q Results Exceed Expectations

Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) reported that net income increased to $163.9 million in the first quarter from $4.4 million in the same period last year. Excluding adjustments, net income would have jumped 49.9 percent to $166.1 million from $110.8 million in the comparable 2015 quarter. Similarly, its earnings climbed to $0.79 a share from $0.03 in the same quarter last year. Monster Beverage said that after excluding acceleration of deferred revenue and other adjustments, its earnings would have grown 25.9 percent to $0.80 per share from $0.64 a share in the year-ago quarter. This was $0.06 a share higher than the Street expectations of $0.74 a share.The company's gross sales increased 9.5 percent to $777.5 million from $710.2 million in the previous year quarter. Excluding acceleration of deferred revenue, gross sales grew 16.0 percent for the 2016 first quarter. Net sales advanced 8.5 percent to $680.2 million from $626.8 million in the corresponding quarter of last year. Analysts predicted revenue of $656.81 million.Monster's Chairman and CEO, Rodney Sacks, said, "The integration of AFF is proceeding in line with expectations. This transaction secures our ownership of the unique intellectual property of many of our key flavors. Additionally, we are pleased to note continued progress on the implementation of our strategic alignment with Coca-Cola bottlers internationally."He added that "In particular, we have concluded agreements with Coca-Cola Amatil and will be launching our Monster Energy® drinks in Australia and New Zealand in May 2016 with Coca-Cola Amatil. We are also pleased to report that we have reached agreements with a number of other international Coca-Cola bottlers for distribution of our Monster Energy® drinks. In the United States, the Coca-Cola bottlers have expanded the number of outlets in which Monster Energy® drinks are available, and we are seeing improvements in our levels of distribution."On Friday, the stock traded 12.5% up.