The Coca-Cola Company
KO
is expected to register top and bottom-line growth when it reports
first-quarter 2022 numbers
on Apr 25, before the opening bell. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s first-quarter revenues is pegged at $9.9 billion, suggesting 10.1% growth from the prior-year quarter’s reported figure.
For first-quarter earnings, the consensus mark is pegged at 58 cents, suggesting growth of 5.5% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure. The consensus mark has moved up by a penny in the past seven days.
In the last reported quarter, the leading soft-drink behemoth delivered an earnings surprise of 12.5%. Its bottom line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 13.5%, on average, over the trailing four quarters.
CocaCola Company The Price and EPS Surprise
CocaCola Company The price-eps-surprise
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CocaCola Company The Quote
Key Points to Note
Coca-Cola’s results in the recent quarters have been benefiting from strategic transformation and ongoing recovery around the world. The company’s top line has been improving, owing to strength across the majority of the markets, investments in the marketplace and the cycling of last year’s pandemic-led impacts, which have been aiding volumes. Revenues are also expected to have gained from improved price/mix, driven by pricing actions in the marketplace coupled with a favorable channel and package mix due to the lapping of last year’s pandemic-led disruptions.
Continued volume gains in the trademark Coca-Cola; sparkling flavors; the nutrition, juice, dairy and plant-based beverages; and hydration, sports, coffee and tea categories are expected to get reflected in the company’s first-quarter results.
Additionally, Coca-Cola’s first-quarter results are likely to reflect ongoing gains from innovations and accelerating digital investments. The company has been witnessing a splurge in e-commerce, with the growth rate of the channel doubling in many countries. It has been accelerating investments to build strong digital capabilities. The company has been consistently strengthening consumer connections and further piloting various digital-enabled initiatives through fulfillment methods to capture the online demand, which are likely to have boosted first-quarter sales.
However, Coca-Cola has been witnessing pressures from higher supply-chain costs, including higher commodity input costs and transportation expenses. It has also been seeing pressures related to commodity and material cost inflation. The pressures from input cost inflation and other costs are likely to have hurt the performance in the first quarter.
Coca-Cola has been investing in its markets and brands to support sales growth, with higher spending on consumer-facing activities. This has led to higher marketing investments in the past few quarters. Higher marketing spending, and an increase in short-term incentives and stock-based compensation are expected to have led to increased selling, general and administrative expenses in the first quarter.
On the last reported quarter’s earnings call, the company expected adverse currency rates to hurt top and bottom lines in the first quarter. The company expects a currency headwind of 3% on revenues and 5% on comparable earnings per share for the first quarter.
Zacks Model
Our proven model conclusively predicts an earnings beat for Coca-Cola this time around. The combination of a positive
Earnings ESP
and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our
Earnings ESP Filter
.
Coca-Cola has a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of +0.75%.
Other Stocks Likely to Beat on Earnings
Here are some other companies that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these too have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:
Colgate-Palmolive
CL
currently has an Earnings ESP of +0.19% and a Zacks Rank of 3. The company is likely to register an increase in the top line when it reports first-quarter 2022 numbers. The consensus mark for CL’s quarterly earnings has moved down by a penny in the past seven days to 74 cents per share. The consensus estimate suggests a 7.5% decline from the year-ago quarter’s reported number.
Colgate’s top line is expected to rise year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly revenues is pegged at $4.42 billion, which suggests a rise of 1.7% from the figure reported in the prior-year quarter.
You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here
.
PepsiCo Inc.
PEP
currently has an Earnings ESP of +0.06% and a Zacks Rank of 3. The company is likely to register an increase in the top and bottom lines when it reports first-quarter 2022 results. The consensus mark for PEP’s quarterly revenues is pegged at $15.6 billion, which suggests a rise of 5.1% from the figure reported in the prior-year quarter.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PepsiCo’s first-quarter earnings has moved down by a penny to $1.24 per share in the past 30 days. The consensus estimate for PEP indicates 2.5% growth from $1.21 reported in the year-ago quarter.
Church & Dwight Co.
CHD
currently has an Earnings ESP of +2.69% and a Zacks Rank of 3. The company is likely to register top-line growth when it reports first-quarter 2022 earnings. The consensus mark for CHD’s quarterly revenues is pegged at $1.28 billion, which suggests 3.6% growth from the figure reported in the prior-year quarter.
The consensus mark for Church & Dwight’s quarterly earnings has moved down by a penny in the past seven days to 76 cents per share. The consensus estimate for CHD’s first-quarter earnings suggests a decline of 8.4% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.
Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the
Zacks Earnings Calendar
.
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