New York, June 5, 2026, 08:01 EDT
- Celsius fell 7.5% to finish at $27.75 on Thursday. The stock was last quoted at $28.31 in premarket trading ahead of 8 a.m. EDT.
- Texas regulators are investigating Celsius and Alani Nu for possible false claims about their product safety for kids and teens.
- BofA kept its Buy rating. Morgan Stanley moved the stock to Overweight.
Celsius Holdings shares ticked up in premarket trading Friday on Nasdaq. The move followed a hard fall the day before. Investors looked at news of a Texas probe into Alani Nu energy drinks while analysts came out with new support for the stock.
Energy-drink maker closed down 7.5% at $27.75 on Thursday, then was last quoted at $28.31, up 2.0%, in premarket at 7:59 a.m. EDT, MarketScreener showed. Premarket trading comes before the main session. Volume is usually lighter, so price moves can be jumpy.
Alani Nu is now in the spotlight as the inquiry turns to a brand Celsius relies on for growth. Last month Celsius reported first-quarter revenue jumped 138% to $782.6 million. Alani Nu brought in about $368.1 million, with the whole portfolio making up close to 20.9% of the U.S. ready-to-drink energy market.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday his office started an investigation into whether Celsius and Alani broke the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by misleading teens and kids about product safety. Paxton’s office cited the 200 milligrams of caffeine in each 12-ounce Alani Nu can, and called out the brands for what it described as youth-focused marketing and colorful cans.
Paxton said “Texas families deserve to know” if products aimed at kids are safe. His office pointed to a lawsuit brought by the family of a 17-year-old Weslaco girl that claims Alani Nu’s distributor did not give enough warning about caffeine levels. Texas Attorney General
Celsius responded to the main allegation. A spokesperson told Dow Jones the company will work with Paxton’s office but disagrees with the way it’s described and what it’s accused of. Celsius says it lists caffeine content and warns that the drinks aren’t for kids.
BNP Paribas’s Kevin Grundy said the Texas probe probably looks a lot like older cases about caffeine in energy drinks like Monster Beverage. “Very little ultimately came” from those earlier investigations, Grundy wrote, and he sees this situation playing out the same way. MarketScreener
Analysts kept a positive tilt. Peter Galbo at BofA kept a Buy on Celsius. He said energy drinks sometimes get extra attention from regulators and health groups, according to The Fly. TipRanks Morgan Stanley raised Celsius to Overweight from Equal Weight, putting the target at $55, citing better risk-reward as the stock trades near its 52-week low, Investing.com said.
PepsiCo has built up its Celsius stake to about 11% and picked Celsius as the lead company for the combined U.S. energy-drink lineup, which covers Celsius, Alani Nu and Rockstar. The companies said last year’s shift was aimed at going up more directly against Monster and Red Bull, which is private.
Celsius Chairman and CEO John Fieldly called the first quarter a “defining period” for the company in May, pointing to a bigger portfolio that includes Celsius, Alani Nu and Rockstar. The company’s gross margin dropped to 48.3% from 52.3% last year, with Alani Nu and Rockstar weighing on margins after their acquisition. Celsius Holdings
But the risks for Celsius are clear. Should the Texas investigation expand or force changes to how the drinks are marketed or labeled, or if retailers pull back on promoting or sampling the brand, Celsius might see legal costs go up and sales slow just as summer is starting. If the probe dies down like past energy drink cases, recent shares action could be more about the headlines than anything else.
Friday’s early bounce doesn’t settle things. The move comes after a sharp drop, with investors weighing if the probe puts Alani Nu’s momentum at risk or just brings another legal story to a sector used to headlines like this.
