UPDATE: UBS Initiates Coverage on Monster Beverage at Buy, Announces $85.00 PT

UBS initiated coverage on Monster Beverage

with a Buy rating and $85 price target. Stephen Powers, analyst at UBS, is bullish on Monster, a “rare above-average secular growth story in nonalcoholic beverages,” and “low-probability regulation/taxation risk” will “ultimately prove to be noise.” Powers expects U.S. sales to “return to mid-to-high-teens sales growth. Powers sees growth opportunities in international markets such as India, Brazil, and South Africa, but “does not expect international margins to expand materially before at least 2015.” Shares of Monster are up 2.5 percent on the session to $74.41. The stock continues to outperform the broader indexes in 2014 and is up 9.5 percent in the same time frame.