 |
|
|
|||||
Energy drink company Celsius Holdings announced today that its subsidiary brand, Alani Nu, has notched more than $1 billion in sales over the past 52 weeksrepresenting a head-turning 72.4% year-over-year sales increase. The companys impressive success demonstrates that the functional beverage craze may not be merely a passing fad for consumers. Celsius Holdings, which also owns the popular energy drink Celsius, officially acquired Alani Nu last month for $1.8 billion. The brand was originally founded by entrepreneur Katy Schneider and husband Haydn Schneider in 2018, and has since found a growing audience of Gen Z and millennial consumers looking for a low-calorie, zero-sugar energy drink option. According to a press release, Alani Nus $1 billion milestone has been fueled by accelerated brand growth, strong and unique innovation, and a growing female energy drink consumer segment seeking better-for-you, functional beverages that fit their health and wellness lifestyles. As of this writing, Celsius Holdings stock is up slightly by 0.16% since market open. What Alani Nu’s success says about the future of “functional beverages” Over the past several months, functional beverages, or drinks that offer some kind of mood or health boost (in the case of Alani Nu and Celsius, that would be the added jolt of caffeine), have gained popularity in the mainstream beverage market. A study by Nielsen IQ last spring found that sales of functional beverages grew by 54% between March 2020 and March 2024 to $9.2 billion, accounting for 10% of the total nonalcoholic beverage market in the U.S. Subcategories of this market, including energy drinks and sports beverages, are similarly trending up. Experts across the beverage industry largely attribute this trend to a rising interest in health and wellness among Gen Z and millennial consumers, who are increasingly choosing to ditch alcoholic beverages in favor of more healthy drinks that can offer one or more benefits. In the past year, new brands like the DTC sports beverage company Magna and influencer Alex Coopers electrolyte drink brand Unwell have emerged to capitalize on this widening consumer base. Meanwhile, existing brands like Mio, Bodyarmor, and Liquid I.V. have all introduced refreshed looks to emphasize their functional features. Alani Nu, which has positioned itself as a health and wellness brand for women since its founding, was uniquely prepared to capitalize on this trend as it emerged. The energy drink comes with 200 mg of caffeine per 12-ounce can (the equivalent of about two cups of coffee) and is vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free, and low-calorie. The brands $1 billion milestone shows that, more than a year after the initial hype around functional beverages first began, the sector has taken root as a more permanent beverage categoryone that’s both attracting a new generation of consumers and causing beverage giants to rethink how they market their products.
Category:
E-Commerce
Chinese robotaxi technology company Pony AI Inc. (Nasdaq: PONY) was up a whopping 55% on Mondayyes, you read that rightafter Chief Technology Officer Lou Tiancheng told the Wall Street Journal it can now build its autonomous driving system for 70% less and is on the road to profitability. Pony AI makes the technology that allows cars to become autonomous, or self-driving, not the cars itself, but it partners with companies to make the cars. It also operates a fleet of robotaxis in China. Last week, Pony AI also received positive feedback after it unveiled three new driverless vehicles at the Shanghai Auto Show, which were co-developed with Chinese state-owned automakers BAIC Motor and Guangzhou Automobile Group, as well as Toyota. And that’s not all. Also last week, Pony AI announced a partnership with Chinese tech firm Tencent, which would see Pony AI’s autonomous ride-hailing services integrated into Tencent Maps as well as the popular social platform, WeChat. Analysts estimate the company has slashed its bill-of-materials, or BOM (all the materials, components, sub-assemblies, and instructions needed to manufacture a product) costs for its robotaxis from $137,217 to just $41,165. Cheaper production could enable Pony AI to achieve single-unit breakeven, or the point at which it makes a profit each time a new robotaxi is added to its fleet, according to the WSJ. Some analysts think it could reach that coveted goal by the end of 2025, but that the company likely wouldn’t turn a profit until at least 2030, when it hits 50,000 robotaxis. The key is software optimization, Lou told the WSJ. For example, our software performance has tripled under the same computing power. It’s worth noting that Pony AI, which focuses on developing and deploying autonomous driving technology, including robotaxi services, has yet to turn a profit, and in fact posted a loss last quarter, which was its first reporting since going public last year. If all goes well, Pony plans to to start production of its robotaxis mid-year, with the goal to expand from 300 vehicles to 1,000 at the end of 2025, per the WSJ.
Category:
E-Commerce
U.S. stocks are drifting Monday ahead of potential flashpoints looming later in the week that could bring more sharp swings for financial markets. The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading, coming off a winning week in its whipsaw ride thats been rattling investors for weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 145 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower. The relatively calm trading offers a respite following historic swings that have come as hopes rise and fall that President Donald Trump may back down on his tariffs, which investors expect would otherwise cause a recession. The S&P 500 has roughly halved its drop that had taken it nearly 20% below its record set earlier this year. This upcoming week will feature earnings reports from some of Wall Streets most influential companies, including Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. Their performances carry huge sway over the market because theyve inflated to become the biggest by far in terms of size. Outside of Big Tech, executives from Caterpillar, Exxon Mobil, and McDonalds may also offer clues about how theyre seeing economic conditions play out. Several companies across industries have recently been slashing their estimates for upcoming profit or pulling their forecasts completely because of uncertainty about what will happen with Trumps tariffs. We heard more plans to mitigate tariff impacts than in prior months and than during 2018 from U.S. companies, including preordering, shifting production, and increasing prices for their own products, according to Bank of America strategist Savita Subramanian. But she also said in a report that she’s seeing some indications of a pause: no hiring/no firing, no new projects/no cancellations etc. A fear is that Trumps on-again-off-again tariffs may be pushing households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term investment because of how quickly conditions can change, seemingly by the hour. Dominos Pizza was flipping between small losses and gains after it reported weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The pizza chains CEO, Russell Weiner, called the global economic environment challenging, and its stock was most recently up 0.7% DoorDash added 1.2% after Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, said it heard from DoorDash about a possible cash offer to take over the company. So far, economic reports have mostly seemed to show the U.S. economy is still growing, though at a weaker pace. On Wednesday, economists expect a report to show that U.S. economic growth slowed to a 0.8% annual rate in the first three months of this year, down from a 2.4% rate at the end of last year. But most reports Wall Street has received so far have focused on data from before Trumps Liberation Day on April 2, when he announced tariffs that could affect imports from countries worldwide. That could raise the stakes for upcoming reports on the U.S. job market, including Fridays, which will show how many workers employers hired during all of April. Economists expect it to show a slowdown in hiring down to 125,000 from 228,000 in March. The most jarring economic data recently have come from surveys showing U.S. consumers becoming much more pessimistic about the economys future because of tariffs. The Conference Boards latest reading on consumer confidence will arrive on Tuesday. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. Theyve calmed since an unsettling, unusual rise rise in yields earlier this month rattled both Wall Street and the U.S. government. That rise had suggested investors worldwide may have been losing faith in the U.S. bond markets reputation as a safe place to park cash. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.25% from 4.29% late Friday. In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. The CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.8%, but stocks slipped 0.2% in Shanghai. Stan Choe, AP business writer AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||