Monster Beverage Corp. , the U.S. leader in energy drinks, is considering an expansion into booze.

The California-based company has its sights on hard seltzers, malt beverages and spirits, looking to diversify as it fends off incursions by competitors and contemplates a future in which it remains independent from investor Coca-Cola Co.

Monster is also preparing to acquire nonalcoholic beverages outside of energy drinks when its noncompete clause with Coke expires in a year, Monster Chief Executive Rodney Sacks said at a shareholders meeting Thursday.

Alcohol acquisitions, which aren’t covered by the agreement with Coca-Cola, could come even sooner, he said, adding that he wasn’t sure whether a drink that combines caffeine and alcohol would interest the company.

“We do have an appetite to look at alternative brands and to develop more beverages in the nonalcoholic…as well as the alcoholic market,” Mr. Sacks said.


The company is also open to cannabis beverages if they become federally legal in the U.S., Monster told investors in a private session Thursday, according to analysts who attended.

Coca-Cola owns an 18.5% stake in the energy-drink maker and distributes the brand through its bottling network—and many observers once expected Monster to become its subsidiary. But that outcome seems increasingly unlikely, analysts say, as Coke has developed its own energy drink. Coca-Cola Energy is already on sale in Europe, and Monster is fighting in arbitration to prevent its release in the U.S.

Monster “is starting to come to terms with a future as an independent company, and not a subsidiary of [Coca-Cola] as many, including us, have thought might happen,” Evercore IRI analyst Robert Ottenstein wrote in a note Friday.

Monster accounted for 42% of energy-drink sales in U.S. retail stores in the four weeks ended May 18, down from 46% a year earlier, according to a Wells Fargo analysis of Nielsen data.


To compete with a new fitness-oriented energy drink called Bang, Monster recently added the brand Reign, which contains coenzyme Q10, a dietary supplement taken for heart health. Meanwhile, Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. is launching a new energy drink, Adrenaline Shoc, and Amazon recently introduced an energy drink under its Solimo brand.

Alcohol and soda companies are increasingly playing on the other’s turf. Coca-Cola last year released a fizzy, lemon-flavored alcoholic drink in Japan, and Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev SA has expanded into ice tea, cold-brew coffee and organic energy drinks.

As Monster looks to grow, “we don’t want to also run the risk of getting distracted,” Mr. Sacks said. “While there’s a lot of innovation coming at us in the energy category, a lot of other brands going out there, we certainly don’t want to end up just taking our eye off the ball.”

Write to Jennifer Maloney at jennifer.maloney@wsj.com