US Beverages UBS Evidence Lab Inside: Sugar Crash or Second Wind Ahead? A Deep Dive On The Energy Drink Category

Research evidence excerpt

US Beverages UBS Evidence Lab Inside: Sugar Crash or Second Wind Ahead? A Deep Dive On The Energy Drink Category

Powered by Lab Global23 JulyResearch2026ab Evidence UBS YES

US Beverages Equities

AmericasUBS Evidence Lab Inside: Sugar Crash or Second

Wind Ahead? A Deep Dive On The Energy Drink Consumer, Non-Cyclical

Category PeterAnalystGrom

peter.grom@ubs.com

+1-212-713 3482

Still Best In Class Growth, But Where Do We Go From Here? Arian Chakravarty

Associate Analyst

As we mentioned in our outlook (link), the energy drink category remains one of the arian.chakravarty@ubs.com

best categories in Staples which has continued to post strong growth in '26 despite +1-212-713 1474

tougher comps/unfavorable macro dynamics pressuring the consumer. That being said,

Chirac Ndetan

the category has also recently decelerated as convenience/gas channel trends have come

under pressure, which we think is largely due to elevated fuel prices stemming from the chirac.ndetan@ubs.com

ongoing geopolitical conflict. As we move through the key summer selling season, the +1-212-649 7501

key questions continue to center around (1) how much of this slowdown is due to

Sona Fernandes

underlying fundamentals vs. external dynamics, and (2) how the competitive

Analyst

environment will evolve from here, particularly as insurgent brands continue to perform sona.fernandes@ubs.com

well. In this note, we highlight key findings from the 8th Evidence Lab Energy Drink +1-212-649 8050

Survey, and leverage Nielsen/Numerator data to better understand category/competitive

Antara Nag-Chaudhuri

dynamics.

antara.nag-chaudhuri@ubs.com

What Will Category Growth Look Like From Here? +1-212-713 4827

Despite the recent slowdown, the US energy drink category is up +8.5% YoY on a 13- Tristan How