Chandler Lutz

Hansen Natural: Long-Term Stability Overrides Short-Term Fluctuations

Great article! I am a fan of Hansen's products and particular the Monster Energy Drink (I guess like everyone else is). I am surprised that the gross margin only decreased about two percentage points while commodity and food price prices have been rising so significantly (this must have really taken its toll on margins in the juice category). One thing I am wondering, and maybe you could shed some light on this, is if Hansen is passing rising input costs to their customers or if they are keeping prices relatively flat in the face of a weak economic outlook.

I don't own shares is Hansen even though it is a great company. This might be beating a dead horse, but I just can't get over the options backdating scandal that took place within management. I know that the overall monetary effect was not large, but how questionable is the integrity of management now? I'll need to answer this last question before I could consider making an investment in this firm...