Wall Street had given up on SodaStream (SODA) long before it stepped up on Wednesday morning to offer up its second quarter report. The stock had shed nearly half of its value over the past year, and Tuesday's close was 78% below its all-time high set two summers ago when it was being played up as a buyout target for the world's second largest soda company.
Analysts had essentially thrown in the towel on its near-term prospects. They were expecting second quarter revenue to plunge to $106.3 million, 25% below where it clocked in a year earlier. Those same pros were holding out for its quarterly profit to drop from $0.43 a share a year earlier to $0.35 a share this time around. That paints a pretty dreary portrait of a company that was once a market darling posting double-digit growth in sales for its beverage platform that turns tap water into flavored soft drinks. Reality is even more dreary.
Adjusted revenue plunged 28% to $101.7 million for the period, and we're talking about "adjusted" results since we're backing out restructuring costs as it grasps for branches while falling from a tree. Margins were slammed, and its adjusted profit of $0.17 a share was roughly half of what the market was forecasting.
SodaStream claims that its performance was in line with its expectations, but you can't blame Wall Street pros for not paying attention. The out-of-favor Israeli company stopped providing guidance back in February.
Adjusted revenue posted double-digit year-over-year declines in all four of its geographical territories. That's not a shocker. The same thing happened three months ago. The biggest hit this time was a 44% plunge in the Americas where SodaStream is trying to reposition its machine as a sparkling water company in light of consumers shifting away from sugary sodas.
That's ugly, but the more problematic nugget is that Western European sales have fallen 16% over the past year. This is actually SodaStream's biggest market, accounting for nearly two thirds of its revenue. It was still posting positive growth when stateside sales began to slip in late 2013, but now we're seeing that the business is crumbling all over the world.
There is a silver lining here: SodaStream moved a record 6.9 million CO2 refills during the quarter. New machines aren't selling, off by 37% since the past year. Folks aren't relying on SodaStream to flavor their fizzed-up drinks. Syrups have plunged an even scarier 45%. However, seeing an uptick in carbonators -- up 7% over the past year -- proves that folks are still using their SodaStream machines. They're not just collecting dust in the attic alongside Foreman grills and NordicTrack trainers.
However, with sales plunging and the stock opening at yet another all-time low on Wednesday morning it's clear that SodaStream has a long way to go before it can even begin to stage a turnaround. It's a broken company, and it may be the last one to realize that. It still sees the shift in marketing and a new production facility as the tickets for growth beyond this nearly two-year slide. It sees "sustainable growth and increased profitability in the years ahead" even if it's no longer comfortable providing annual guidance. It's a once fizzy stock that went flat, and consumer brands have historically had a hard time bouncing back into favor once the public has moved on.
