As salty snacks raise the bar and carbonated soft drinks recover sales growth, the energy and beer categories are losing momentum, according to a recent Wells Fargo Securities report.

The carbonated soft drinks (CSD) category (excluding energy drinks) has seen sales growth recover slightly following two months of flat growth, according to Nielsen data for the four-week period ended Oct. 26, 2013.

Total CSD (excluding energy) dollar sales in the U.S. C-store channel increased +1.2% (+0.6% for prior 12-weeks) during the four-week period, driven by avg. eq. price growth of +3.8%, offset by eq. unit volume declines of -2.5%.

Meanwhile, the energy category growth slowed as Monster Beverage Corp. (MNST) generated minimal growth. Following last month’s strong +7.3% dollar sales growth, the energy category posted soft +3.0% dollar sales gains this period. Monster had its weakest month in the last couple years, with dollar sales up just +0.4%.  

Beer category growth has also softened. Beer dollar sales in the U.S. c-store channel were up  +0.5% driven by eq. unit declines of -2.1% and pricing growth of +2.7% for the aforementioned four weeks.

Meanwhile the salt snacks category is once again raising the bar. Dollar sales increased +7.8% during the recent four-week period with +5.6% unit growth and +2.1% pricing growth.