These 3 Stocks Offer Investors Exposure to the Functional Beverage Boom

Functional beverages are moving from a niche wellness trend into a large global market with strong growth forecasts. BellRing Brands offers the most direct exposure to protein drinks, but recent earnings showed higher cost and margin risk. Starbucks and Celsius Holdings give investors broader ways to participate in functional beverages through coffee, refreshers and energy drinks.

Gen-Z consumers frequently hear the well-meaning, but perhaps oversimplified advice to quit paying $8 dollars for their morning coffee. But human nature has a way of adapting. It is such that these consumers now have a comeback. They’re not just drinking coffee. They’re having a functional drink to promote wellness. The functional drink market includes protein coffee, CBD-infused sodas, and, of course, prebiotic drinks. But this market is doing more than creating more beverage choices for consumers. According to Mordor Intelligence, the functional beverage market is already a $160 billion market. But between 2026 and 2031, that market is expected to balloon to over $235 billion at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.93% in that time. Movements like functional beverages frequently start out in private companies. But it hasn’t taken long for large, publicly traded companies to get in on the action. That gives investors a way to boost their portfolio even if the idea of a functional beverage is a strong, black coffee.

Investors have poured money into technology stocks, particularly those focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and space. But it’s been impossible to ignore the outperformance of stocks in the rapidly growing GLP-1 space. This provides a tangible way to address the obes...