Can Pepsi Beat Coke on Earnings?

Companies and Brands

Published: February 10, 2015 3:59 pm

Last Updated: April 27, 2020 6:27 pm

Wednesday morning, the age-old question of which is better, Coke or Pepsi, will be answered when PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) reports its fourth-quarter financial results. Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) reported its results Tuesday morning as $0.44 in earnings per share (EPS) and $10.87 billion in revenue, beating both top and bottom line estimates.

Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates for Pepsi as $1.08 in EPS and $19.66 billion in revenue. In the fourth quarter of the previous year, Pepsi reported $1.05 in EPS and $20.12 billion in revenue.

Comparatively, Pepsi has a market cap of $147 billion and Coke has a market cap of $186 billion.

Of the two companies, Coke currently looks a little better on paper. The company’s forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is 21.13 and the price-to-book value is 5.40. Pepsi’s forward P/E is 20.57 and the price-to-book value is 6.22. Based on a consensus price target of $44.61, the potential upside in Coca-Cola stock is around 7.6%, based on Friday’s closing price of $41.45. At Pepsi’s consensus price target of $103.14 and Friday closing price of $96.71, its implied gain is 6.6%.

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When we looked at the bull and bear cases for the 30 Dow stocks, Coca-Cola was one of the poorer performers in 2014 with a dividend-adjusted gain of just 5.3%, compared with a return of 7.5% from the Dow 30. Coke has taken stakes in both Keurig Green Mountain Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) and Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) in an effort to diversify. It is not a particularly risky move because Coke can buy the smaller company or companies if the partnership is a success or it can sell the stakes without too much damage.

Pepsi’s snack food business provided a third of the company’s $309 million year-over-year revenue growth in the third quarter and more than half the company’s profit growth in the same period. Pepsi has to figure out a way to overcome the weakness in Russia and Venezuela, and if that were easy it would be done by now.

Shares of Pepsi were up 2% at $97.93 in the last hour of trading Tuesday. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $103.14 and a 52-week trading range of $77.01 to $100.70.

Coke shares were up 3% at $42.47. The consensus price target is $44.61, and the 52-week trading range is $36.89 to $45.00.

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