New Nielsen data suggests Monster Beverage struggled in December. The energy drink maker appears to have used promotions to push sales, taking a bite out of the total dollar value of its sales.
Monster's energy drink sales slipped 0.2% in the four weeks prior to Dec. 31, according to Nielsen data summarized in a Wells Fargo analyst report. Overall, energy drink sales were up 0.3% during the period. Among the winners in energy drinks during the month was Rockstar, whose sales rose 0.4%.
There's an important caveat: Monster's new Mutant drink, a competitor to PepsiCo's Mountain Dew, is not classified as an energy drink, so it wasn't included in the data.
Mutant has 5.8 mg of caffeine per ounce versus 4.5 mg for Mountain Dew, 2.8 for Coca-Cola, and 9.1 for McDonald's coffee, according to a Barrons.com story.
But sales of Mutant have not been promising so far, according to Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog. "Monster's Mutant sales growth peaked in week 8 and has decelerated weekly since - giving us pause and concern, particularly when compared to the trends of Ultra [which Monster launched a year ago] during the first few months of its launch."
That bodes poorly for the new drink because "past Monster launches that failed to reach a "critical mass" of sales within the first 10 weeks often have remained smaller insignificant brands."
Even if 2016 ended poorly, Monster could benefit from several changes in 2017, including a large corporate tax cut.
Big Picture: New data indicates Monster's energy drinks struggled in December, and its new Mutant drink hasn't caught on.
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