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Investing.com — La Croix may no longer be the sparkling water leader, but it’s still looking pretty good to Jefferies (NYSE:JEF).
The firm upgraded National Beverage (NASDAQ:FIZZ) Corp., which owns the brand, to hold from underperform, and bumped its price target to $85 from $55 on an acceleration in sparkling water and improvement in market share for the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based brand.
The stock rose 3% to trade at this highest in about two years.
Analyst Kevin Grundy said that while competition remains stiff, he lifted his earnings per share estimate for fiscal years 2021-2023 by at most 20% and sees its enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 15 times as reasonable.
The competition has ramped up with Pepsi and Coke jumping deep into the game. La Croix currently holds almost 13% of the U.S. market, in third place, behind Sparkling Ice — owned by closely-held Talking Rain Beverage Company — with 16%. Taking first place, with 17.7% of the market, are private labels, according to Statista.
