Through back-to-back press releases Wednesday and Thursday, at-home carbonation champion�SodaStream� (NASDAQ: SODA ) announced two new strategic partnerships with the privately held companies eBoost and Ocean Spray Cranberries.
Apparently, according to the Ocean Spray release, more than 30% of Ocean Spray cranberry juice drinkers mix their juice with sparkling water when they're at home, so "the partnership builds on an already familiar consumer behavior."
The tag team with natural energy drink specialist eBoost, on the other hand, gives sluggish consumers another option to supplement SodaStream's existing "Energy Drink" varieties -- which, curiously enough, includes a cranberry flavor.
According to Jillian Michaels, eBoost's chief energy officer (not kidding), "eBoost�is redefining the energy drink industry with a responsible product that consumers can feel good about drinking." It's only logical, then, that coffee-averse homebodies might relish having another bubbly option with SodaStream's system.
Will it matter?
The question remains: How does this affect SodaStream investors? The stock popped as much as 5% Wednesday but then fell nearly 2% on Thursday, so it's doubtful the movement was strongly correlated with investor excitement over these deals.
Am I significantly more likely to buy a SodaStream machine now that they've added bubbly cranberry juice and new energy drinks to their repertoire? Probably not. After all, I wasn't swayed when SodaStream signed deals with Breville, Country Time Lemonade, Campbell's�V8, or Kraft's�Kool-Aid and Crystal Light.
Even so, I can't imagine the new flavors will be bad for business, especially with regard to making SodaStream's solution that much stickier for existing at-home carbonation enthusiasts. In the end, carbonation refills and flavor packs are SodaStream's bread and butter -- the more shelf space the company can command with new flavors, the better.
However, I'll have to admit that SodaStream's propensity for creating ban-worthy advertisements certainly has me intrigued. The company has no qualms calling out both Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO ) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP ) by name�in an effort to draw attention to the convenience of its own environmentally friendly solution. And that's not to mention the fact that SodaStream most recently�had the guts to do so -- or attempt to do so, anyway -- in a Super Bowl commercial. Thanks to the viral power of social media and the Internet, SodaStream continues to enjoy the perfect avenue for peddling its controversial wares to win consumers' affection.
While SodaStream did manage to use that publicity to grow its 2012 revenue 51% year over year to just over $436 million, something tells me Coca-Cola and Pepsi aren't exactly shaking in their giant boots just yet, especially since the global powerhouses boasted mind-numbingly massive 2012 sales of $48 billion and $65.5 billion, respectively.
Break out the bubbly
This still doesn't mean, however, that SodaStream won't be able to continue growing quickly for the foreseeable future. After all, the market can only ignore its blowout results for so long. Eventually, long-term investors will be happy to enjoy the fruits of their patience.
Curious about how big SodaStream can get, and what that growth potential means for investors? Our premium report on SodaStream explains the opportunities as well as the risks in the company. The report comes with a year's worth of updates, so just click here to get started.
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