Updates on Coca-Cola’s non-carbonated beverages portfolio will be in focus, among other things.
Coca-Cola Co.’s shares gained last week, signaling a bullish outlook, as the sodas and snacks giant prepares to publish its third-quarter results before market hours on Tuesday.
Shares gained 2.1% last week, their best such performance since early August. The bar is set high for the Coke and Sprite seller after rival PepsiCo reported quarterly revenue and profit above Wall Street’s projections earlier this month.
PepsiCo’s results showed strong international sales and recovery in its U.S. snacks business, thanks to the launch of smaller, affordable pack sizes. The company stated that it would “aggressively reduce costs” for U.S. snacks with closure of two plants.
Analysts expect Coca-Cola, which does not sell snacks and earns a lower revenue, as a percentage of its total revenue, from North America than PespiCo, to report a nearly 4% rise in sales to $12.41 billion, according to Koyfin. That would be the company’s best quarterly performance in the last three quarters.
Adjusted EPS is expected to rise 3.6% to $0.87. The company beat expectations in the second quarter.
Amid other information, analysts will focus on demand for Coca-Cola’s products like the newly launched Simply juice line, and the Fairlife milk and protein beverage brand, as consumer preferences shift from carbonated drinks to healthier options.
Though unlikely, the company might give an update after reports earlier this month suggested that it is considering a $1 billion initial public offering (IPO) for its Indian bottling unit.
On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for KO stock was ‘neutral’ as of early Monday, unchanged over the past week.
“$KO looks decent to me, nice bounce off the recent lows and is showing some decent relative strength now, so leaning bullish on this,” said a user.
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KO shares are up 4.3% from their recent low on Sept. 26 and 9.8% year-to-date.
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