Monster Beverage has been taken off the Goldman Sachs conviction buy list after the FDA said it was investigating the firm.
The investment banking and security firm removed Monster Beverage Corp. from its conviction buy list once the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed an investigation is underway which potentially links it namesake Monster Energy drink to five deaths.
Shares at Monster Beverages fell 7 percent to $42.38 on Tuesday.
Reuters reports that Monster is now being sued by the family of a 14 year-old who died after drinking two cans of the energy drink in 24 hours, although she suffered with a heart condition.
The family say that the company was negligent and wrongful death was caused due to a failure to warn consumers about the drinks’ health risks.
The FDA is investigating not whether five deaths were caused by the company’s drink, but whether there may have been a casual link. There is no current evidence that consuming the drinks has caused any of the deaths.
Howrver, Goldman Sachs analyst Judy Hong maintained her ‘buy’ rating on the stock, believing that risk was already written into its price. Hong wrote concerning the decision:
“We do not believe these headlines will impact MNST’s sales growth in the US., nor do we believe the ultimate legal and regulatory outcome will be a significantly onerous one.”
