Monster Beverage Corporation (MNST) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Dara Mohsenian, Morgan Stanley's beverage and household products analyst. Just before we get started, as a reminder, for important disclosures, please see the Morgan Stanley Research Disclosures website at www.morganstanley.com. And if you have any questions, you can reach out to your Morgan Stanley sales representative. So with that out of the way, we're incredibly honored to have Monster here on stage for their first ever conference appearance with us for a keynote fireside chat. The company has got an incredible track record of driving long-term growth in the energy category, both in the U.S. and internationally and building brands behind a distinct marketing approach and successful innovation. So joining us on stage are Hilton Schlosberg, CEO; Rob Gehring, Chief Growth Officer; Emelie Tirre, President of the Americas; and Guy Carling, President of EMEA. Thanks, guys, for being here. I appreciate it.

So Hilton, I mentioned Monster's strong track record. I've covered your stock for almost 25 years. During that time frame, you're actually the best performer of all companies in the S&P 500. If you go back to the names 25 years ago, my perspective would be a lot of that success has been driven by the entrepreneurial nature of your company. And really, you and Rodney have been the face of that success for Wall Street. But if you look at the last couple of years, you brought in some outsiders, you've increased the responsibility from people internally, and you've added breadth to your management team. And yesterday at your Analyst Day, you also talked about a lot more of the analytical and digital tools you're using. So just curious, as you look at the breadth of the management team here, the greater analytical rigor you're putting into place, what do you see as the key value drivers emanating from that going forward? Whether it's areas like RGM or whatever other areas you'd highlight?

Sure. Good afternoon, everyone. Dara, thanks for the introduction. I really appreciate your comments. It's interesting for me to be here because we don't normally do these conferences. And it's probably the pain that we attracted because we hired Mark Astrachan to handle Investor Relations for the company. So we can't get forced to engage in these conferences. So Mark, wherever you are. Thanks very much. On a more serious note, we've always had a strong bench. You're seeing executives here, Guy Carling, for example, who runs EMEA, has been with us for 16 years. Emelie Tirre, who runs a large part of our business on the U.S. side and also, she's our Chief Commercial Officer. Emelie's been with us for 15 years. And Rob's a newbie. Rob, really proud to have you on board. Rob has been with us for just over a year now. I think that's correct. So really proud to have Rob on board and we have a really strong management team. It's interesting adding up the number of years of service that the team has been part of, and it's -- they've been associated. The leadership team has been with Monster in aggregate for 241 years, if you count me in that mix. And it's a very sizable number I think, for any company to have that degree of longevity. And if you take into account their previous experiences in the beverage industry, which is not in that 241, that number probably more than doubles. So we have a lot of experience in the company, and we're proud of the team that we have. So in the last 2 years, we've really -- I've made a very special efforts to ensure that the team is exposed to ironalists and our investors, and we had our investor presentation yesterday where I did a heck of a lot less of the talking and the team really developed the talk track. And I think from everything we've heard that it was a good meeting. So -- and one of the aspects of how we're operating is that my leadership style really is to empower the team. We cannot do everything ourselves. There's a -- we're a big company today, and we're in almost 160 countries. And we distribute, as many of you know, through the -- principally through the Coca-Cola system, although we work with Asahi in Japan, and we have other smaller distributors, but our relationship principally is with the Coca-Cola Company, we're proud of that association. So we're in a bunch of countries, and we have great leaders in EMEA, you'll hear from Guy today, in the U.S. Asia Pacific, LatAm. And we really have a good depth of management throughout the organization.

Great. Rob, you're a relative newcomer at Monster, as Hilton mentioned. You've worked with the company, both in an external role and now internally. If you had to call out one or two things culturally since you've joined that you think really sets Monster apart, help us get some insight there? Anything that surprised you since you've joined? And then second, can you just talk about your biggest priorities, the biggest growth opportunities you see as Chief Growth Officer?

You bet. First of all, thanks for being here and your interest in Monster company. So I've been in the Coke system for about 30 years, and so I've been privy to Monster as a bottler, I ran Swire Coca-Cola. So they were a key component of our growth agenda at Swire when we were doing our 10-year plans because we believe in the energy category. So I've known them from outside looking in, and so now being within the 4 walls, I get a front row seat to some of the things I admired most. I constantly admired their spirit of innovation. And it was actually one of the principles we tried to incorporate at Swire was we called it a culture of innovation. I will tell you that is in the very fabric of Monster. And it's no coincidence that you look across the beverages we're choosing. This is one of our 26 innovations right here. I'm trying -- Lando Norris is another one. And it's not solely an innovative product, it's an innovative thinking, it's an innovative commercial strategies, it's an innovative RGM philosophies, it's an innovative technology and the way we're approaching the business for the future. And I would say that's woven into the very fabric of everybody's being in the organization. And one of the other attributes that I love about the culture, there's 5 foundational areas of the culture, but one of them is Monster Family. And they truly believe and live that. It's one of the few companies that did not have layoffs during COVID through all the challenges. They believe in the way we take care of our associates and our employees, the way we take care of our partners and our customers, and we're always concerned about their well-being and so those are some of the things I've admired from the outside looking in and now that I get a front row seat to it. I really -- I'm enamored and really want to do everything I can to foster and ensure that those cultural values continue to flourish for the long term. When you pivot over to our growth agenda, so most of you know the trajectory of the category from external sources, it projects a very healthy growth trajectory. And one of the things we focused on is obviously the integration of technology as much as possible to truly understand the consumer and put the consumer at the center of everything we do. And that goes hand in glove with our RGM philosophy. When you think of what we're trying to do with RGM, it's how we meet the consumer where they're at in everything they do, whether it be purchase occasion, whether it be the vessel size or the brand or the functional need state that they're seeking to solve. And we've been very open about our goal is to constantly grow units. We believe consumption is a critical metric and so we focus on units. We want dollars to grow ahead of that, and that's where the art and science, combined with that, and we want profit to grow ahead of that revenue. And so that is something we've been practicing at Monster, but we're very overt about it now. And it is getting more complex because the consumer is getting more complex. The demand curve is more volatile, understanding that. And so in the peer set of CPGs, there are very few that are growing volume. And categorically, we're growing volume as a category, and we're growing volumes. So we want to ensure longer term that's there. And I would be remiss if I did not focus on a very green opportunity for us, which is the food service on-premise relationship with the Coke company. James Quincey from this stage talked about 30 million outlets globally, we are not in all of those 30 million outlets. So there's an immense opportunity in that food service on-premise and I've probably taken more time than -- I was a lot of their...

it's great to have a lot of growth opportunities. We could use more of that.

Yes. There's a lot, I could keep talking.

Okay. That's great. Emelie, maybe we could talk about the U.S. category growth has rebounded significantly this year. I find that at odds at every other stage appearance this week, what I'm asking, why have categories has been so weak in CPGs. So it's really unique to see the strength in the energy category this year. You also saw some weakness last year. So I'd love your perspective on the underlying growth drivers behind the strength this year, if you think they can continue going forward? And maybe also just comparing and contrast that to what we saw last year and understanding that volatility.

Yes. I mean it's a great category to be in because we're -- the category is growing and what we see is that we still have a household penetration rate for the energy category still in the 70% range, whereas soft drinks are in the 98% range. We're also seeing a lot of females coming into the category now, younger females that are coming into the category. And so while we had soft hurdles last year, there was a lot of unrest in the U.S. marketplace last year. And I think we talked about that on earnings calls as well. And the categories rebounded quite nicely, and we've seen that through my 15-year career here as well is that there is these points of cyclical that it comes back -- it goes down and it comes back. But overall, the category is projected to grow. I think Hilton showed on stage yesterday at about 8% globally. And so the U.S. will continue to be a part of that, but my belief is that with that room of household penetration that we still have to soft drinks, that's something that we're going to continue to try and recruit households to start buying energy drinks here in the United States.

Great. Guy, same question in Western Europe. You've delivered really strong organic sales growth in the EMEA region despite having high per capita consumption in a number of markets. So just help us understand maybe first, the category growth piece of that. And I know you've done some consumer insight work recently. You brought new customers into the category, as you talked about yesterday, but the factors driving category growth but then the second piece of it also is the share gains we've seen, which have reaccelerated in recent quarters, what's behind those share gains and help us understand the long-term growth opportunity in Western Europe and in EMEA in general.

Okay. If I start with the category. I mean, I think as has been talked, it's a great category to be in. First and foremost, it's a category that's functional. Energy beverages do something. And that need for energy is kind of every day, all day, every day. The second thing is actually, as a perspective, it's quite a young category. So maybe talk about where it's going to go, it's -- let's say, it's 25, 30 years old in Europe. But that means that an 18-year-old 30 years ago is only 48, they've got another 20 plus, 25 years of drinking. During that 25 years, there's a 2-decade worth of consumers going to come into the category in the future. So the age of the category gives it kind of enormous potential. But over that period, the category has evolved enormously. So 30 years ago, it started off in a bar with vodka, and it's broadened every year, every decade and evolved into an everyday mainstream beverage. So something that was more niche and pigeonholed, I shared some data yesterday, has now drunk 24/7 in every single daypart morning, evening, night in multiple usage occasions from gaming, with food, in the gym to pick you up on the go, all the obvious ones. But those usage occasions kind of underpin the current and the future of the category. And what we've seen is that Monster has been able to outperform across all the usage occasions and across all the dayparts. And it's a category with functionality, but also it's very image-driven, seeing it as a brand lifestyle attached to that functionality, which I think is important to consumers. It's a category driven by innovation. So you have a huge variety of flavors in zero sugar and full sugar that are appealing to consumers of all ages, though we recruit the strongest in the youngest adult age groups, but actually across all age groups. Lando Norris, the biggest number of consumers coming in are sort of 18 to 25 but the 30 to 45-year-olds, it's also a new consumption. And then we've got innovation. Lando Norris is bringing in new consumers to the category. It's bringing in consumers that are new to Monster. So -- but I think one of the things where across the whole business, we've been able to make the share gains is not just growing through innovation. So we've got a similar amount of growth coming from innovation as our competitors but we're also growing the fan favorites, the core SKUs across our 4 brand platforms. We are seeing huge growth. We've talked about the success of Ultra. I mean it's global, Ultra White especially, but growing 40%, 50%. This is a brand platform that's kind of over 10 years old. I think one of the things that's fueled that is taking the portfolio which is hugely successful in the kind of core channels of grocery, convenience, fuel, but into away-from-home. Rob talked about the opportunities in food service in fast food in those kind of areas, taking the core fan favorite SKUs into those new pieces of distribution gives them growth, gives the brand growth. And yes, there's 30 million outlets around the world, and there's a lot that don't yet sell energy and don't yet sell Monster. So it's a huge source of potential growth for the future. On the penetration point, we've got around 40% of adults drink energy in our markets. And of the remainder, 60%, 75% are open to drink energy. So taking energy to where they are in places like occasions like food, 30% of energy is drunk with food. But in terms of the outlets that sell food, we're not in probably 30% of them. So you combine the age of the category with the functionality with the image lifestyle, the innovation and the products that are on offer, we see the share gains and the potential opportunities for the future.

Great. And the consumer study work you just did in Europe. Any surprises from that? Anything that stood out to you?

I think the amount of recruitment that the category continues to do, it kind of reinforces across all age groups. We've got 25% coming in. And then I think the mainstream sort of daily aspect. In Europe, Middle East and Africa, it's very balanced male or female. It's a very balanced between zero sugar and full sugar. So whilst a lot gets talked about zero sugar and it is a huge source of growth to our consumers who want full flavor full-sugar products. So I think it's really the balance across the dayparts, across the occasions that kind of everyday energy benefit availability.

Right. Great. Hilton, Zero Sugar, we'll stay on this subject, has become a much bigger piece of your portfolio really led by Ultra and the success that you're having there. Can you just take us through your strategy on no sugar, how important a growth driver is that for your business going forward? And also maybe talk about the international opportunity versus the U.S. opportunity in no sugar?

Sure. We actually were the first company to introduce a Zero Sugar energy beverage and around -- I think it was around -- Monster was launched in 2002, it was probably 2 years, 2 or 3 years later that we launched a Zero Sugar product, and it was long before any of the competitors even considered a Zero Sugar product. And we've seen the growth of the Zero Sugar products. We've seen, for example, this viral campaign that started off totally virally, nothing to do with us in Europe and has become really kind of a global phenomenon and it's really surprised us and it's toward our social media guys something about how viral campaigns can really work. It's been staggering, and it supported the growth and our Zero Sugar products are growing faster than our full sugar products. Having said that, as Guy correctly mentioned, there's still the consumer that wants a full sugar product. And if you look at the opportunity in the United States, absolutely Zero Sugar is a major part to play. In Europe, many countries again, have a huge appetite for a Zero Sugar product. If you go to LatAm and you look at Asia, Zero Sugar is still in the development mode in many countries. So there's a lot of opportunity. And the one thing that a Zero Sugar product does because we always have to defend our margins as probably other companies have to do and the analysts always like higher margins, and the Zero Sugar products, they actually deliver that because the cost of sweeteners is a lot less than the cost of sugar. So there's a lot of benefits to having a Zero Sugar product, but it's something that the consumer wants. And as we live our lives, we look for our consumer. We're there for our consumers, and we have a wide range of products that appeal to that consumer base. So we try and to ensure that every part of the industry, every part of our consumers are satisfied by the products that we're able to offer them. And obviously, there's a huge demand for Zero Sugar as there is for sugar. So yes, I think it will be an important part of the -- it will remain an important and an increasing part of the category. So we'll be happy, the consumers will be happy and the analysts will be happy.

It's a great recipe. We like that. Maybe we can talk about the innovation pipeline here. It's the best I've seen in all my time covering the company, I'd say, by far, maybe Hilton or Rob, help us understand why you've got so much innovation coming out this year, how you think about the level of contribution potentially? Can it really drive more of an unlock in terms of shelf space? And then also just how do you keep that pipeline up longer term? Sorry, multi-part question, I'll remind you.

Yes. Okay. First of all, we've had great innovation historically, '25 we spoke about yesterday, but '25, another year of very successful innovation. And I think the energy category is driven by innovation. It's significantly key driver for the consumer in that category. They're expecting it. As you hear us say, they have an insatiable desire for new. And one of the key things that are differentiated that sets us apart at Monster Energy is our goal is always to use innovation as a complement to our core business. So we shared the numeric illustration of our third quarter where innovation is driving our core business. Innovation is a key [indiscernible] growth, but it's bringing core with it. And so that comes to light in our merchandising standards, how we execute it in store, how we display it, how we market it. And that's a goal of ours moving forward. So we want it to be sustainable. We want it to be a sustainable resource for us for growth and that of our customers and our retailers. And so when you look at '26, we do have an incredible amount of innovation, whether it be flavor extensions, package innovation or actually new areas that we're going into catering to different consumers because, again, the consumer is at the center of everything we do. We will always use that as a metric because, again, back to -- we wanted to increase volume and revenue. And if it's not bringing the core with it, it's coming at the risk of cannibalizing the core and so '26 is by, in my opinion, the best innovation calendar I've ever seen from a company in my career. And so I'm very proud of what we have going. And it's a balance of zero-calorie offerings as is this is punk punch that's coming out as well as full calorie offerings. Our juice lineup is doing incredibly well. We have a new juice offering. We have complementary full throttle and NOS offerings. And we're doing something that we have not historically done as part of the America 250 summer campaign. We're doing some LTOs. So we have not done those in the past. We're going to try some LTOs. It's worked successfully in the category. We want it to be one of our tools but not the tool to drive innovation. We want to stick with what we're doing because we believe it drives and earns share. It doesn't rent share. So we believe wholeheartedly in the innovation pipeline we've shared for 2026 at NACS and some of the products are here. So I would strongly encourage you to sample them and give us our -- give us your feedback on it.

And driving sustainability of innovation, can you talk about how you do that? Is it sort of more of a measured pace of rollout as opposed to big bang? Or how are you really driving sustainability?

You bet. So we've split up the year. Obviously, a lot of the resets are done at the beginning of the year, but over the most recent years, we've learned that there's that need for fall innovation as well. So we kind of space it throughout the year. So this year, you're going to see spring, you're going to see some summer and you're going to see fall. And it's kind of spread throughout that because, again, the consumer is fickle and moves and their desire for new is there. So the goal is to give them that experimentation, allow that -- see which ones will become platform SKUs, which stay permanently, but also, at the same time, have them beer back to core. We want them to try that and then continue to go back to core over and over again. So that complementary relationship of how those 2, that's kind of where the magic has happened in our innovation pipeline. And you'll see it on all of our displays. You'll see Green Monster and White Monster on every one of our innovation displays. You'll see it in our marketing and our merchandising and everything.

And Hilton, why so many ideas this year from an innovation standpoint? Is it that the consumers broadened and there's more opportunity? Have there been changes internally at the company in terms of your level of focus? You've had a successful track record, but it's really a big step up this year.

I think we had -- if you look at 2025, there was a good amount of innovation in '25. I think that's what's skewing 2026 is the fact that we have 2 LTOs that are based on the Americas 250th Year Anniversary. We're celebrating the 250th Year Anniversary, and you'll see at the fight that's going to happen at the White House, hopefully, that the mat of the UFC will have one of the 250th Year Anniversary cans. So we're really focused on that. And I think if you look at those 2 SKUs that are coming as part of that program, it's kind of added to the 2026 innovation calendar but if you look at '25 and '26, I think I haven't added it up because we look at the needs and the opportunities but I think it's probably the same amount of innovation stripping those 2 out. And then, of course, we've got the 2 products that have come from EMEA, they've been really successful in the EMEA. Historically, the U.S. has driven innovation now. We look at it on a different basis, and EMEA may lead with particular SKUs, like, for example, the Bad Apple, which we launched now. We've just recently launched that in the U.S. and then Lando Norris, which has been so successful in Europe. And that, again, we did as an LTO in 2025, but with a full rollout planned in 2026. We launched Lando Norris in the U.S. in those territories that benefited from a Formula One race, which was basically Texas and Las Vegas, and we added California into the mix because California is very much part of the Vegas scene. So we've done that, and we carry on with innovation. One of the points that Rob and Guy and Emelie made earlier was the fact that innovation is additive to our core and accelerates our core. So with us, we're really focused on our core. We have to grow the core with many of our competitors, they don't look at that as much as how much the innovation adds to the overall business. We're focused on driving our core. Our core is really important to us. And whatever we do with innovation, is really accelerates and adds to the core product that we have. And what I should have mentioned earlier, and I actually just came to me was that if you strip out the Ultra brand in the United States, for example, that in itself is the third biggest energy drink brand in the United States. That shows how big that Ultra brand is. I missed that earlier in your answer to your questions so I'm addressing it now.

Great. Hilton, perhaps we can turn to gross margins. And I know it's not always your favorite subject, but they've been remarkably consistent in recent quarters, considering the tariffs and run-up in Midwest premium. I think one of those reasons is we're seeing expansion internationally within the region. So help us understand what's happening under the hood internationally and what's driving that? Is that something that's sustainable as we look going forward?

So I am passionate about gross margin, believe it or not. But we have a philosophy in the company that we bank gross profit. The percentages are something that is kind of an illusion that you guys focus on. But we -- but seriously, I mean, we do as well. But we have a huge focus on gross profit and gross profit margins on a number of parameters. And obviously, pricing is a big parameter. And we've discussed that historically that pricing internationally is substantially less in many cases than pricing in the U.S., and that leads to low margins internationally than we are able to achieve in the U.S. We are striving to improve that and examine what we can do to improve margins on an international basis, but remembering that we are in a competitive environment. We don't exist in a vacuum. So we have to seriously consider where the competition is, and we participate in a category, and we want to be leaders and achievers in that category. But yes, we have been increasing margins internationally. A lot of that has been through cost savings, efficiencies and also taking opportunities with pricing where we can. And you saw in the last quarter that every region actually improved profitability. And one of the things that we are encouraging our analysts look at is the gross profit by region rather than conglomerating the gross profit and trying to find the reasons for overall gross profit percentages, rather focus on it by region, which is probably more explainable. But yes, it is a major objective of ours.

Great. Hilton and Rob, I'd love to hear your perspective on the relationship with the Coca-Cola system. There have been some stresses at various points in the past. Rob, you have a unique perspective from both sides of it, right, having seen both sides of that relationship. It does seem like joint efforts are in a much better place now. What does that mean tangibly for your business going forward, your growth profile, the way you operate?

Rob, do you want to start?

Sure, I'll start. Coming from being a bottler, like I said earlier, Monster is an integrated part of your business plan. It's an integrated part of how you approach retailers, how you sell the retailers, how you execute in store. And so there was this friction between more of the Coke company than the bottlers. The relationship with the bottlers has always been healthy. We've been a healthy part of their P&L and their operating model. But there's been this undue friction. And I would say the relationship is better than it's ever been. I think history is what it was, and it's all about the path forward. And I attribute that to Hilton extending the olive branch and agreeing to meet with them at the highest levels. And so we've had some pretty strategic meetings about the growth potential, working more closely together versus the friction that has existed in the past, and it's opened a lot of doors. So one of the examples we've shared earlier in our things was our unified effort against college and universities. So if you think of the importance of that consumer in that life stage where they're very impressionable, it was a statement to this Coke system globally as they've articulated the operating standard and how we work together and publish it to all their bottlers. So all the stakeholders are aligned now on how we approach that key area. And I think that's only the beginning of what can and will come to pass with all the other opportunities out there. And I'll turn it over to Hilton to talk more about the personal relationships with the leaders.

Yes. I think from a friction perspective, it's more from a -- viewed in a competitive sense because we are additive to the portfolio. We're not a competitor in the portfolio. I think that's an important distinction between where we were in the past and where we are today. And we have a very close relationship with Jennifer Mann, John Murphy, Henrique. And I told the group earlier today about a situation with Henrique where we would -- it was an issue with the Indian bottlers and he put his arm around me and we've talked about the Indian bottlers and he said, "This is my brother. And what you do to my brother, you do to me." So there's a great affinity now of working together and we're seeing some good results, which will benefit us definitely, but will also benefit the Coca-Cola Company, I think in terms of the product offerings that they're able to offer to their various consumers throughout the world.

Great. You guys discussed the affordable energy strategy driving higher penetration in emerging markets over time. That strategy has evolved in recent years. So I'd be curious for your perspective there.

Yes. I think that's -- Guy is absolutely playing in that category in Africa. So let's hear it from Guy.

Thanks, Hilton. I think weed talk about the age of the category. I think up until 5 or 7 years ago, energy in a continent like Africa, was very, very niche. It was limited to premium, Monster premium, Red bull. But when we say premium, we're talking about 3, 4, 5x the price of the CSD, not in normal differentials. In the last kind of 5 or 6 years working with CCBA, working with Hellenic, we've taken Predator and the Fury brand to be the #1 value brand in Africa. And we've got markets where the affordable energy now being available to the mainstream African consumer. Affordable energy has 2/3 of the value sales of energy in Africa, but it's only 5 or 7 years old. The runway in it is enormous. In places like Nigeria and Egypt, we've gone from a standing start to kind of 25%, 30% share in places like Kenya, we have a 60% value sales share of the energy category, but that's only by making energy available at an affordable level to the mainstream consumer. But I think what's exciting is that energy category is very, very young and the per capita consumption of energy in places like Africa and similar in Latin America and Asia Pacific remains very, very young versus the potential of a category that has decades to come.

I think that's a great summary. Emelie, do you want to add anything?

Yes. Same in Latin America, the same where there's pockets of Latin America with the socioeconomic personnel that can come and buy those drinks. It's just -- it's so aspirational Monster is that we offer them Predator. And so the bottlers do a really good job in those markets, Arca, FEMSA and segmenting where we should be putting Predator to where we should be putting Monster. And so I think similar in Philippe's territory and in Asia Pacific. And so we're really relying on the bottlers like in Guy's territory, where we're saying, where should we target Monster and what certain accounts and where we should be targeting Predator or Fury in certain accounts and exposing consumers to the energy drink category.

Yes. China and India, for example, the affordable energy market is really pretty extensive. And we're participating now in both those countries and many other countries throughout Asia. In some markets, it will not be affordable, will not be represented because the consumer group is fulfilled with the premium energy drink site, for example, in Japan. So in the United States, we don't have an affordable category. The affordable categories in its infancy in other countries. And the benefit of our portfolio is we're able to offer to our consumers the products that we believe and that they want whether it's affordable or premium, whether it's low sugar, whether it's sugar, what -- whether it's juice or coffee, we're able to offer a wide range of products to meet our consumer needs.

Great. Hilton, considering this is the first time you're on stage at the Wall Street Conference, any points about Monster that you think are really underappreciated in the investment community?

Well, I'm going to look at the scorecard after this meeting. I'm not sure this is what you expect of us. But I think we've always relatively been low key in the sense that we've focused on running our business. And that's been key for us. We've run our business, a business very cash generative, as you know. So the results the performance of the company can be seen in the cash reserves, which we've deployed, I think, effectively and continue to do so. So from a perspective of what's underappreciated, I don't really know. We're a growth company in a growing industry. And we, hopefully, will continue to deliver the expectations and the results and we'll do our best to do so. So I think that's about it.

Okay. Well, we have time for one more question. So look, it's been a remarkable run. We just talked about the results. I talked about the shareholder performance earlier. You've built a broader leadership team here with more responsibilities. At some point, you'll naturally step back. And obviously, there's been success under your leadership in the C-suite the last couple of decades. How do you ensure the organization is structured for success post your tenure, whenever that happens?

I think one of my key is looking back is the Monster values that we really live and breathe by. We spoke about -- Rob spoke earlier about during COVID, we had no layoffs. We protected our folks, even though it's in the part time who are servicing stores and doing work in the -- with consumers. We supported all of them. We paid and we continue to train during COVID, but we had absolutely no layoffs whatsoever. And we live by the Monster values and the values are own it. We believe people should own what they're responsible for, they should hug and love what they do. Be authentic. We've always tried to be authentic. The Monster family is very important to us. We protect the family, and the family protects us. Teach and be taught, that's another major value that we live by that we have continuous training for our people. And we have a really great team of people throughout the world. We're looking at 6,500, we call them team members. We don't have employees. We have team members and we have 6,500 across the world and really proud of where we are and where we've come from. We've come from humble beginnings, but we're just, I think, a great company today, but that's my view.

That's a great way to end things. Thank you so much for coming. We really appreciate it.

Thanks, Dara. Thank you.