Why Coca-Cola Is Floundering on Earnings and Guidance

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) reported its second-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Wednesday. This is one of the “middle-of-the-pack” Dow stocks, as it has made a reasonable gain year to date, but there is still more to be accomplished. Ultimately, the company is confident in its segmented revenue growth strategy, innovation pipeline and efforts to increase and improve advertising. However, earnings did not necessarily reflect this sentiment.

The company said that it had $0.60 in earnings per share (EPS) on $11.54 billion in revenue. The Thomson Reuters consensus estimates had called for $0.58 in EPS on revenue or $11.64 billion. In the same period of last year, Coke posted EPS of $0.63 and $12.15 billion in revenue.

In terms of the outlook for the full year, the company expects to have its comparable EPS down 4% to 7% from last year’s $2.00. At the same time, the company expects organic revenues to be up 3% in 2016. The consensus estimates for the full year are $1.94 in EPS on $42.54 billion in revenue.

The company faced challenging macroeconomic conditions, structural changes and foreign exchange headwinds during this quarter, which contributed to a 5% decline in reported revenues. However, it delivered 3% organic revenue growth, gained value share in total nonalcoholic ready-to-drink beverages, expanded operating margins and grew profits in line with its expectations.

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This strong performance in some of the largest and most developed markets, including the United States, Mexico and Japan, was offset by difficult external conditions in many of the emerging and developing markets, including China and Argentina.

Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO, commented on earnings:

These factors combined to put pressure on our volume and top-line performance in the quarter, especially where we own bottling businesses. In these international operations where external headwinds have proven to be more severe than originally forecast, we are taking action by reassessing local market initiatives where needed and continuing our efforts in driving productivity.

On the books, Coca-Cola’s cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $21.4 billion at the end of the quarter, up from $15.6 billion at the end of 2015.

Shares traded down about 3% at $43.54 early Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $48.35 and a 52-week trading range of $36.56 to $47.13.

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