Coca-Cola Outruns Estimates Again

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Coca-Cola (NYS: KO) reported earnings yesterday. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 30 (Q1), Coca-Cola beat expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue increased and GAAP earnings per share expanded.


Gross margins shrank, operating margins dropped, net margins increased.

Revenue details
Coca-Cola recorded revenue of $11.14 billion. The nine analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for sales of $10.80 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 5.9% higher than the prior-year quarter's $10.52 billion.

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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
EPS came in at $0.89. The 16 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $0.88 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.89 for Q1 were 8.5% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.82 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 61.0%, 150 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 22.5%, 120 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 18.4%, 30 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $13.03 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $1.21.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $48.40 billion. The average EPS estimate is $4.10.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a five-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 6,106 members out of 6,406 rating the stock outperform, and 302 members rating it underperform. Among 1,697 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 1,647 give Coca-Cola a green thumbs-up, and 50 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Coca-Cola is outperform, with an average price target of $75.06.

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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. The Motley Fool owns shares of Coca-Cola. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Coca-Cola. 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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