Ask most beverage giants how much they owe, and the answer arrives with a lot of zeros attached. Ask Monster Beverage (MNST +1.90%), and the answer is just a single zero. That's right: Monster holds no long-term debt at all.
Coca-Cola (KO -0.52%) carries $43.5 billion in long-term debt as of Oct. 2, 2026. PepsiCo (PEP +0.23%) has $42.6 billion. Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP -1.04%) owes $31.2 billion. Even Celsius Holdings (CELH -2.41%), the young upstart, has $2.4 billion of debt.
Scaled to market cap, Keurig Dr. Pepper's long-term debt equals 74.2% of its value, Celsius 34.6%, PepsiCo 24.8%, and Coca-Cola 11.7%.
Monster's figure is still 0%.
Image source: Getty Images.
A lasting advantage
The energy drink titan does know how to borrow money from time to time. It took on $750 million in 2024 to help pay for a $3 billion buyback, then cleared the tab in 2025, well before the three-year loan came due. That's the difference between using debt and living off borrowed money.
A debt-free company also gets to pick its moments. Managing through a downturn, a juicy acquisition, or another massive buyback becomes a choice rather than an obligation, and nobody at the bank gets a vote.
NASDAQ: MNST
Key Data Points
The catch is Monster's valuation. The stock trades at 39.7 times free cash flow, the highest multiple in the non-alcoholic beverage group. You're paying for Monster's squeaky-clean balance sheet because the market already noticed. It's still a real advantage that isn't going away anytime soon.
