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Shares of Coca-Cola Co. climbed Tuesday toward their best day this year, after the beverage giant beat third-quarter profit expectations and provided an upbeat outlook, as consumer spending “held up well” in developed markets.
“[O]verall, our industry remains vibrant while it’s expanding, and we are executing to capture that growth,” said Chief Executive James Quincey on the post-earnings conference call with analysts, according to an AlphaSense transcript. “During the quarter we gained volume and value share in both at-home and away-from-home channels.”
The stock
KO,
jumped 2.5% in afternoon trading, putting it on track for the biggest one-day gain since it ran up 3.6% on Nov. 10, 2022. It was also headed for the best one-day post-earnings performance since it hiked up 3.2% on Jan. 30, 2020, after fourth-quarter 2019 results.
Net income rose to $3.09 billion, or 71 cents a share, from $2.83 billion, or 65 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 74 cents beat the FactSet consensus of 69 cents.
CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson followed by upgrading Coca-Cola to strong buy from buy, while keeping his stock price target at $68, which implied about 23% upside from current levels.
“Coca-Cola’s streak of earnings beats remained intact, as the last time the company posted a quarterly earnings miss was 2017,” Nelson wrote in a note to clients.
Revenue grew 8.0% to $11.95 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $11.44 billion.
Price and mix increased 9%, while concentrate sales and unit case volume rose 2%, after unit case volume was flat in the second quarter.
“Consumer sentiment continues to vary around the world,” Quincey said. “In developed markets consumer spending and has held up quite well. However, some consumers feel pressured.”
He said there has been some shifting to discount channels and to less-expensive private label brands in a few markets and categories, “the intensity of this activity was largely the same across Europe compared to the previous quarter, but was less pronounced in the U.S., Australia and Japan.”
In other geographic regions, the company said it is seeing consumer strength across Latin America, India and in parts of central and southeast Asia, but consumer spending has yet full to recover in Africa and China.
For 2023, the company expects adjusted EPS growth of 7% to 8% from $2.48 in 2022, which implies EPS of $2.65 to $2.68. That’s above the current FactSet consensus of $2.64.
The stock has dropped 11.3% over the past three months, while the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF
XLP
has shed 11.0% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
has lost 6.8%.
