Celsius Q1 2026 Results: Alani Nu Keeps Carrying the Modern Energy Portfolio

Celsius Holdings posted Q1 2026 revenue of $782.6 million, up 138% from $329.3 million in Q1 2025. Most of that growth is acquisitions. The more useful question coming out of this report is whether Q4 2025's core CELSIUS brand dip was a real demand problem or a distribution timing blip. Our full-year 2025 coverage laid out both possibilities. Q1 2026 answered it: CELSIUS stabilized, Alani Nu is still a machine, and Rockstar is still the strategic tax you pay for a bigger Pepsi-powered energy portfolio.^[1]

The Q4 Question

When CELSIUS brand revenue fell 8% in Q4 2025, management blamed order timing around the Alani Nu DSD transition into PepsiCo's system. We said that explanation was probably real -- retail sell-through data at the shelf was still positive. Q1 validates that read. CELSIUS brand revenue grew 6% year over year. Not explosive, but not a brand in distress. The Q4 dip was a shipment anomaly, and it corrected.^[1]

CELSIUS Stabilized

Six percent top-line brand growth lands CELSIUS at a 9.9% dollar share of U.S. RTD energy for the 13-week period ended March 29, 2026.^[1] That's a stabilized brand holding its shelf position.

The gross margin trend deserves attention. Portfolio gross margin dropped to 48.3% from 52.3% a year ago, driven by Alani Nu and Rockstar both carrying lower margins at acquisition, plus aluminum cost headwinds and integration freight disruptions. Management says the margin expansion initiatives (purchasing alignment, freight optimization, price-pack architecture) are progressing. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter came in at $195.5 million, a 25.0% adjusted margin versus 21.2% a year ago.^[1]

But Q2 will be the first real test of whether that margin expansion narrative has legs.^[2]

For the full formula and brand positioning breakdown, here's the CELSIUS product deep-dive.

Alani Nu Is Still the Machine

Alani Nu did $368.1 million in Q1 alone. Retail sales up 100% year over year for the 13-week tracked period. U.S. RTD energy dollar share: 9.0%.^[1]

CELSIUS sits at 9.9%. Alani Nu is nearly neck-and-neck with the flagship brand that Celsius Holdings was built on. At this pace, the brand acquired for $2 billion in April 2025 will outrun the original brand by year-end!

What makes that 100% growth rate notable is the context: Alani Nu spent most of 2025 transitioning out of its legacy DSD network into PepsiCo's system. That process is substantially behind them now. Q1's growth is cleaner than anything Alani Nu put up during the transition. The Alani Nu acquisition looks like one of the best deals the energy category has seen in years.

Rockstar Still Drags

However, Rockstar Energy retail sales were down 13% year over year, holding a 2.0% dollar share.^[1] Consistent with where it's been -- a structurally declining brand that Celsius Holdings acquired for distribution footprint and Pepsi system access, not growth trajectory.

The case for Rockstar was never about growing the brand. It was about locking up shelf real estate and deepening the Captaincy relationship with PepsiCo. Whether Celsius eventually finds a positioning that stabilizes Rockstar is an open question. Right now it's infrastructure, not a growth engine.

Margin Watch

Below the revenue line: net income hit $110.1 million on a GAAP basis, up 148% year over year.^[2] Adjusted diluted EPS came in at $0.41 versus $0.18 in Q1 2025.^[1] The GAAP number includes $4.4 million in distributor termination fee adjustments and $24.6 million accrued for the ongoing Flo Rida litigation -- neither of those is a recurring operating cost.

Bottom Line

Q1 2026 clarified the Celsius Holdings story, it didn't change it. CELSIUS is a stabilized 9.9-share brand growing at a mid-single-digit rate. Alani Nu is the rocket ship, now nearly at parity with CELSIUS in tracked dollar share after just one full year in the portfolio. Rockstar is the price of building a scaled Pepsi-powered energy platform. Three brands, three distinct roles -- and for now, the machine is running as designed.

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References

1. Celsius Holdings, Inc. "Celsius Holdings Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial Results." Business Wire, May 7, 2026. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260507453822/en/Celsius-Holdings-Reports-First-Quarter-2026-Financial-Results

2. Celsius Holdings, Inc. "Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2026." U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, May 7, 2026. https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001341766/ddf91222-0b13-4f1b-b31f-f0df590fa608.pdf