Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated Increases Sales but Misses Estimates on Earnings

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (NAS: COKE) reported earnings on March 7. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated beat slightly on revenue and missed estimates on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue improved and GAAP earnings per share contracted significantly.

Margins shrank across the board.

Revenue details
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated tallied revenue of $372.9 million. The one analyst polled by S&P Capital IQ looked for revenue of $368.5 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 5.2% higher than the prior-year quarter's $354.4 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.51. The two earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $0.54 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $0.20 for Q4 were 51% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.41 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 40.7%, 250 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 4.0%, 130 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 0.5%, 60 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $369.8 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.66.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.60 billion. The average EPS estimate is $3.85.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 574 members out of 614 rating the stock outperform, and 40 members rating it underperform. Among 142 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 139 give Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated a green thumbs-up, and three give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated is hold, with an average price target of $58.00.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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