Canned Laughter at Jones Soda

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My, those alternative beverage sodas grow up so fast these days. Jones Soda (Nasdaq: JSDA) delivered a great fourth-quarter report yesterday. Earnings more than doubled to $0.08 a share, and revenue inched 15% higher to hit $10 million.

Jones has earned its bones appealing to edgy soda sippers who don't mind paying a premium for the company's eclectic bottled brews with whimsical user-generated photographic labels. Growth in the future? It's in the can.

The canned beverage market will be a major driver for Jones Soda over the next few quarters. Until last year, the company had an exclusive deal with Target (NYSE: TGT) to sell its pop in cans. Target has been a great partner -- especially in promoting seasonal bottled concoctions -- but just 2% of the country's canned soda sales go through Target.

Now that Jones Soda is free to distribute its canned flavors beyond Target locations, it is not wasting any time. The company signed a distribution deal with National Beverage (AMEX: FIZ) that will grow the company's retail reach from 2% of the market to a 25% slice by Memorial Day -- and as much as 50% by the end of next year.

You will be seeing Jones Soda cans hitting chains like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) Supercenters, Kroger (NYSE: KR), and Safeway (NYSE: SWY) over the next few months. The company's first television advertising campaign will accompany the launch. To differentiate its soda, Jones is going with pure cane sugar as a sweetener over the industry's high-fructose corn syrup.

The impact will be dramatic. Case volume doubled to 5.1 million last year, but National Beverage is committed to boosting that annual distribution to 35 million cases.

The company isn't abandoning its premium bottled soft drinks. They sell well and are quality brand ambassadors in retail outlets like Panera Bread (Nasdaq: PNRA) and that gourmet coffee chain that always seems to be a block or two away. It is also moving into new lines like its 24C ready-to-drink vitamin water. 24C will be the company's first non-carbonated beverage and sold in plastic bottles.

Glass? Plastic? Aluminum cans?

Things will get interesting as Jones Soda moves from being merely a star in the $500 million premium beverage market to trying its hand at landing a bit part in the $66 billion mainstream soft drink market.

Yes, they do grow up so fast -- but growth stock investors wouldn't have it any other way.

Want to keep up with the Joneses?

• I first singled out Jones Soda two years ago when it was trading for $4 a share
• I tagged it as a "pop star" a few months later
• I checked in again this past summer

If you like small stocks with spunk like Jones Soda, you may appreciate the Motley Fool Rule Breakers ultimate growth stock newsletter service. Subscribe today or take the taste test with a free 30-day trial subscription.

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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz actually enjoys some of the more exotic Jones Soda flavors like caramel apple and key lime pie. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.