Golf Clap for Coca-Cola

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Coca-Cola (NYS: KO) reported earnings on Oct. 16. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Sep. 28 (Q3), Coca-Cola met expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

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


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

Revenue details
 Coca-Cola recorded revenue of $12.34 billion. The 11 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated revenue of $12.42 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 0.8% higher than the prior-year quarter's $12.25 billion.

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 $0.51. The 16 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.51 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.50 for Q3 were 4.2% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.48 per share.

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 60.7%, 50 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 22.6%, 70 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 18.7%, 60 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $11.55 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.44.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $48.19 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.11.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a five-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 6,285 members out of 6,597 rating the stock outperform, and 312 members rating it underperform. Among 1,776 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 1,714 give Coca-Cola a green thumbs-up, and 62 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 $41.09.

The article Golf Clap for Coca-Cola originally appeared on Fool.com.

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 has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend The Coca-Cola Company. 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.

Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Advertisement