Written by StockNews.com

Sodastream International Ltd. (NASDAQ:SODA) early Wednesday posted much better than expected first quarter earnings results, with double-digit sales growth in all regions and solid margin growth driving the earnings beat.

The Israeli sparkling water system maker reported Q1:

• earnings per share (EPS) of $0.66, which was $0.23 better than the Wall Street consensus estimate of $0.43 [while]
• revenues rose 14.3% from last year to $115.3 million, also easily beating analysts’ view for $110.37 million...
• sales rose:
  • 12% in Western Europe...,
  • 12% in the Americas,
  • 38% in Asia-Pacific,
  • and 15% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa...
• starter kits sales rose 37%...
• consumables were up 6%.
• Gross margins also rose 200 basis points to 52.7%, up from year-ago levels of 50.7%, and helped by lower production costs.

The company commented via press release:

“Sales grew double digits in each of our four geographic regions as investments in marketing fueled strong demand for sparkling water makers.

At the same time, gas refill units increased 12% year-over-year, the strongest quarterly gain in several years as a growing number of households are utilizing our home carbonation system to produce sparkling water.

Equally important, we translated solid revenue growth into triple digit net income growth and generated our highest ever quarterly operating and free cash flow driven primarily by increased manufacturing efficiencies, meaningful expense leverage and continued working capital optimization.”

...Year-to-date, SODA has gained 43.93%, versus a 7.58% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

SODA currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #10 of 26 stocks in the Beverages category.