Sodastream International Ltd (SODA): The Beautiful Billion-Dollar Number

Shares of Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) popped more than 13% during intraday trading Tuesday after the company’s investor day spurred upgrades from a number of analysts.

All told, the stock is currently up a whopping 20% over the past five trading days since the Israel-based company posted stronger-than-expected results. But why, exactly, is everybody so excited today?

The $1 billion question
To be sure, I was impressed just a few days ago when the folks at Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) raised full-year guidance, telling investors they now expect 2013 revenue to grow around 27% to just over $554 million. Meanwhile, 2013 net income should also increase by around 20% to $52.7 million.

Yesterday, however, Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) management went even further, telling investors they hope to generate annual sales of at least $1 billion by 2016 — for those of you keeping track, that would represent a more than 80% increase in sales on top of the company’s already-impressive numbers. As a result, analysts at Oppenheimer raised their price target for Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) to $68 from $60, and the folks at Citigroup raised their price target on the stock to $66 from $60.

What about now?
As it stands, shares of Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) are currently trading around $65 per share and 29.5 times trailing earnings, so I can’t help but wonder whether the stock is finally beginning to look a little too rich to buy.

Of course, I thought the same thing about Lumber Liquidators back in February after its epic 200% run over the previous year, but the flooring specialist proceeded to rally another 44% to remind me why it’s dangerous to doubt the potential for stocks of admittedly great businesses.

After all, as I noted last week, there are currently more than 130 million households in the United States, of which SodaStream has penetrated less than 1%. Contrast that to Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA)’s more established markets like Sweden, where a full 25% of all households use its products, and its potential becomes that much more enticing.