The Coca-Cola Company (KO), based in Atlanta, Georgia, is the world’s largest non-alcoholic beverage brand. It offers sparkling soft drinks, water, coffee, value-added dairy, plant-based beverages, and more. With a market cap of $292.8 billion, Coca-Cola’s operations span across the globe.
The beverage giant has lagged behind the broader market over the last year. The KO stock has gained 10% over the past 52 weeks trailing behind the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 19% returns over the same time frame. However, However, things are looking up for the stock this year, as KO climbed 15.3% in 2024 compared to $SPX’s 14.2% gains on a YTD basis.
Zooming in further, Coca-Cola has outperformed the Nasdaq Food & Beverage ETF’s (FTXG) 7.7% decline over the past 52 weeks and 1.1% returns in 2024.
Coca-Cola stock has gained 7.4% over the past month and remained in green for four trading sessions after its Q2 earnings release on July 23. Its EPS and revenue both exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, fueled by its net revenue growth of 3% to $12.4 billion and organic revenue growth of 15% compared to the year-ago quarter. The company registered both growth in volume and increase in prices during the quarter.
For the current fiscal 2024, ending December, analysts expect Coca-Cola to report an EPS growth of 6% to $2.85 on a diluted basis. The company has a remarkable history of surpassing consensus EPS estimates in its quarterly earnings reports.
Among the 19 analysts covering the KO stock, the consensus rating is a “Strong Buy.” That’s based on 13 “Strong Buy” ratings, one “Moderate Buy,” and five “Holds.”
This configuration has been consistent over the past months.
On July 25, Truist Securities' analyst Bill Chappell raised KO’s price target from $65 to $70 while maintaining a “Buy” rating. This boost was driven by the company’s better-than-expected Q2 results.
The mean price target of $69.59 for Coca-Cola suggests a potential upside of 2.4% from current price levels. The Street-high target of $75 implies a potential upside of 10.4% from current price levels.
On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
