The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) has an impressive track record of effectively navigating market headwinds by continually innovating its product portfolio to align with customers’ changing consumption patterns. While the soft drink giant keeps expanding into new markets, slowing sales in China – an important market for the company – has been a concern.
Coca-Cola’s stock has traded almost flat in recent months, after retreating from a record high in September last year. However, it had a positive start to 2025 and is expected to continue gaining strength, with experts predicting that the stock price could rise above $170 this year. Considering the relatively low valuation and the company’s strong fundamentals, KO appears to be a good long-term investment.
Q4 Estimates
Coca-Cola’s fourth-quarter earnings report is slated for release on Tuesday, February 11, at 6:55 am ET. Market watchers, in general, expect the company to continue the trend observed in the previous quarter. Their consensus forecast for adjusted earnings is $0.52 per share, which represents a 6% increase from the year-ago quarter when the company earned $0.49 per share. Meanwhile, Q4 revenue is expected to decline 2.3% year-over-year to $10.7 billion.
In the third quarter, earnings rose to $0.77 per share, excluding special items, from $0.74 per share a year earlier and topped expectations. That is despite a 1% decrease in September-quarter revenues to $11.85 billion. The top line beat estimates. Organic revenues increased 9% year-over-year. Net income attributable to shareowners, on an unadjusted basis, declined to $2.85 billion or $0.66 per share in Q3 from $3.09 billion or $0.71 per share in the year-ago period.
Sales Trend
North America continues to be Coca-Cola’s biggest market, with strong sales momentum in the region often offsetting weakness in other markets. Recent improvements in the US economy and the rebound in consumer confidence bode well for the business. Recently, the company launched a new segment called ready-to-drink cocktail — a mix of Coke and alcohol — as it keeps innovating its portfolio.
From Coca-Cola’s Q3 2024 earnings call:
“Despite weakness in China and a couple of markets in Southeast Asia, we grew organic revenue and comparable operating income. In ASEAN and South Pacific, we gained value share, led by the Philippines and Australia. The Philippines grew affordable transactions with refillable packages and grew premium transactions with single-serve offerings. Australia prioritized affordability initiatives across our sparkling portfolio and successfully activated the Olympic Games with POWERADE.”
Coca-Cola’s stock has lost about 7% in the past six months. The shares mostly traded higher on Friday, extending the uptrend experienced in recent sessions.