SodaStream is the seltzer maker that produces its fizz-boxes in occupied territory in Palestine, and the other day starlet Scarlett Johansson signed a multi-year contract with the corporation that kicks off during the Superbowl. Monday was SodaStream’s first day of trading since the announcement that Johansson was SodaStream’s new face, and the stock took a beating, and it hasn’t recovered in the two days of trading since.
“Even Star Johansson Can’t Help SodaStream as Stock Sinks 26%” was Boomberg Business Week’s headline, while InvestorPlace contributor Lawrence Meyers cites SodaStream as “long-term business failure….a momentum fad stock.”
Take a look at the bloodbath Monday (scroll cursor over graph for details):
In a press release, SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum chalked up the loss to a ‘challenging holiday season,’ among other factors, acknowledging the corporation “failed to deliver our profit targets and are disappointed in our fourth quarter performance”. The stock has declined a whopping 40 percent since last fall.
The Wall Street Journal blog MoneyBeat says “SodaStream has gone flat”, andfeatures a photo of Scarlett Johansson with the line, “SodaStream’s newest pitchman already has her work cut out for her”. WSJ:
[T]he Israeli company had a hot, hip product with good buzz; it even unveiled Scarlett Johanssen as its newest pitchman (the company called her a “brand ambassador”) on Saturday.
“We expected some weakness in U.S. sales but are surprised by the magnitude of the company’s gross margin and earnings miss,” analyst Jim Chartier at Monness Crespi Hardt wrote. He cut his rating to neutral from buy. “While we continue to believe in the story longer term, we are moving to the sidelines until we have greater clarity on the company’s gross margin issues.”
SodaStream is under assault by the boycott movement because it is built on a military occupation and Palestinian human-rights violations. Predictably, there’s no main stream investment media mention regarding the growing boycott against the corporation, the BDS campaign (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions), or if it has impacted the plunge.