Celsius Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CELH) shares are trading higher Thursday morning as traders weigh an oversold bounce against lingering worries that the company's distribution-driven growth could keep pressuring margins.
- Celsius Holdings stock is showing downward bias. What’s next for CELH stock?
What Is Driving Celsius Holdings’ Stock Movement?
Celsius is being priced through a "margins first" lens after a first quarter beat where adjusted EPS came in at 41 cents versus a 30-cent consensus and revenue reached $782.6 million versus a $766.8 million estimate. Gross margin still contracted by 400 basis points as lower-margin brands were added, keeping the stock sensitive to any sign the mix shift persists.
Alani Nu's record first-quarter 2026 sales of about $368.1 million and Rockstar Energy's roughly $66.6 million contribution are fueling the growth-versus-profitability tug-of-war, even as management cited an approximate 20.9% U.S. energy drink dollar share. Traders have kept fading the post-earnings distribution optimism, a setup that intensified during today's drop happening stretch earlier this week.
Wall Street's split on valuation is also feeding volatility, with Morgan Stanley holding Overweight but cutting its target to $55 while JP Morgan reiterated Overweight and raised its target to $70.
Celsius Stock: Key Levels and Momentum Indicators
CELH is still in a firmly bearish longer-term structure: it's trading 11.4% below its 20-day SMA ($32.93) and 39.2% below its 200-day SMA ($48.03), with the 20-day SMA below the 50-day SMA and a death cross that formed in March. In that kind of tape, rallies often struggle until price can reclaim at least the 20-day/50-day area, which currently sits well overhead.
For momentum, RSI is the cleaner lens right now at 27.61, which signals the selloff is stretched and conditions are oversold rather than "healthy consolidation." Oversold doesn't guarantee a bottom, but it does raise the odds that any good news (or even a lack of new bad news) can spark sharp countertrend bounces.
The stock is also sitting just above its 52-week low ($27.66), making that zone the near-term "line in the sand" for bulls trying to stabilize the chart. On the upside, the first meaningful repair step is getting back above the low-$30s where the 20-day moving average sits.
- Key Resistance: $33.30 — aligns with the 20-day SMA, a common “first sell zone” in downtrends
- Key Support: $28.77 — the prior 52-week low zone, now a key bounce-or-break level after the breakdown
How Celsius Holdings Operates In The Energy Drink Market
Celsius Holdings operates in the energy drink subsegment of the global nonalcoholic beverage market, with 95% of revenue concentrated in North America. It owns three energy drink brands: Celsius, Alani Nu and Rockstar Energy.
The company leans heavily on product innovation and marketing, while outsourcing manufacturing/packaging to third-party co-packers and distribution to PepsiCo. That setup can accelerate reach, but it also puts extra focus on mix and margin—exactly what's driving the current debate as newer, lower-margin brands scale.
Celsius Holdings Benzinga Edge Scorecard Analysis
Below is the Benzinga Edge scorecard for Celsius Holdings, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses compared to the broader market:
- Momentum: Weak (Score: 4.03) — The trend is still pointed down, lining up with price sitting far below key moving averages.
- Quality: Neutral (Score: 37.84) — Fundamentals read more middle-of-the-road, so the chart is doing more of the decision-making right now.
- Value: Weak (Score: 27.14) — The market is still paying up, which can punish the stock when margins are questioned.
- Growth: Weak (Score: 14.75) — Expectations look reset, and investors want cleaner evidence that growth can come with better profitability.
The Verdict: Celsius Holdings’s Benzinga Edge signal reveals weak momentum and weak value support, which fits a stock that's still trying to stabilize after a steep drawdown. Until momentum improves, the setup leans more "oversold bounce candidate" than "trend reversal," especially with valuation still pricing in execution.
Celsius Holdings Stock Rebounding Thursday Morning
CELH Stock Price Activity: Celsius Holdings shares were trading higher by 6.28% at $29.61 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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