Hansen Natural shares drop after company update

Shares fell $4.39, or 15.2 percent, to $24.56.

After the market closed Tuesday, the Corona, Calif., company hosted a conference call updating its business trends for investors. Citi analyst Gregory R. Badishkanian said in a note to investors Hansen's management said they were "seeing softness within the convenience store channel based on traffic and sales trends."

"We think this is at least in part due to a weak U.S. macro environment," he said.

Consumers have been cutting back spending due to high gas and food prices, and some have begun to forgo convenience stores in favor of big box discount stores where prices may be lower.

Canaccord Adams analyst Scott Van Winkle said in an analyst note that the energy drink category "continues to post very respectable growth" even as sales decelerate.

Van Winkle added, though, that increased competition from Coca-Cola Co. and Starbucks Corp.--which have both released coffee energy drinks--could hurt revenue of Hansen's Java Monster.

The analyst chopped his price target on the shares to $31 from $34.