Coca-Cola confirms energy drink launch as the Monster spat intensifies

On Thursday, The Coca-Cola Company (KO) confirmed its plans to launch two energy drinks under the brand Coca-Cola, in a bid to move away from unhealthy sugary colas. The stock, however, has chnaged hands slightly lower than Wednesday’s close of $49.37 in today’s morning trade.

In a statement, the beverage giant said that the two new drinks would be “Coca-Cola Energy” and “Coca-Cola Energy No Sugar”, but did not provide any prospective launch dates. It is believed that the drinks will contain caffeine from natural sources.

This also intensifies the legal battle with energy drinks giant Monster Beverage (MNST), of which Coca-Cola is a top shareholder. According to Monster, such a launch would violate the deal between them.

Later on Wednesday, Monster Energy did post upbeat third-quarter earnings, but the news of arbitration further hit the stock and shares plummeted at least 10% in Thursday morning trade.

Do check out our Monster Energy Earnings coverage.

Monster Beverage stock falls on strained Coca-Cola deal, despite Q3 beat

Last month, Coca-Cola posted a 26% jump in earnings for the third quarter as costs and expenses skipped, delivering upbeat results and pushing the stock up in premarket trade.

Net income soared 26% to $1.81 billion, while earnings jumped 31% to $0.44 per share. Refranchising of company-owned bottling operations slapped a 13 points headwind on the top line.

Listen to publicly listed companies’ earnings conference calls along with the edited closed caption text