Now that 2016 has come to an end, it is important to look forward and backward to see what sort of opportunities exist for investors in the new year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed out 2016 at 19,762.60 on December 30, and while it missed the elusive 20,000 mark, it did end the year with a gain of 13.4% from the 17,425.03 close on the last trading day of 2015. Unfortunately for investors in Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), they did not really participate all that much in the broader market gains.

Again, it’s what is ahead that matters now. In an effort to see what Coca-Cola’s expectations are in a new year, it cannot at all be evaluated without the same consideration for PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP). After all, these companies dominate the beverage market in the United States and have massive global footprints with operations in more countries than can easily be imagined by most multinational corporations.

24/7 Wall St. evaluates each Dow component at the start of each year in an effort to derive its annual forecasts. While much of this takes shape in the final 60 days of the prior year and in the first few weeks the current year, we use the year-end consensus analyst price target for each company from Thomson Reuters. For an expected total return, we also give an inclusion for each company’s dividend yield based on a year-end snapshot of that yield. Most Dow stocks raise their dividends throughout the course of a year, but those are not part of the assumptions because they have yet to be seen.

Coca-Cola was just one of the two Dow stocks that had a negative total return in 2016. At −0.36%, its stock ended the year at $41.46 a share. The dividend made up for what would have been a 3.5% share price drop during the year. Coca-Cola actually was down about 6.5% in the second half, so it was not exactly showing that it was strong stock with high investor demand based on the Trump-effect going into 2017.

One thing that Coca-Cola investors do have going for them is a history of dividend hikes year after year. That yield of almost 3.4% and a consensus analyst price target of $45.54 offer an implied price gain of 9.8% and an expected total return of closer to 13% in 2017.

Coca-Cola has some negatives too, perhaps serious negatives. Foreign exchange has been hurt by a strong dollar. The company also struggles to get away from its sugar-water drink image, with efforts in sports and energy drinks and bottled water not making the image change fast enough. Many millennials just do not drink soda-pop, and even the trends of diet drinks with their bad chemicals are not enticing new drinkers enough to make a huge difference.

Another wild card for 2017 will be a management change. Muhtar Kent is stepping down as chief executive officer, and president, and Chief Operating Officer James Quincey already has been selected to replace him. One issue to consider is that the change is not effective until May 1, 2017, but Kent has led Coca-Cola since 2008, and Quincy’s tenure since 1996 did not come with a COO title until 2015. Kent was born in 1952, and his successor was listed as only 51 years old.

There is one more wild card out there, and that is that Coca-Cola has been mentioned as a possible takeover target for Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD). This would make a Warren Buffett “whale of a deal” sound small because Coca-Cola has a $180 billion market cap already. Would Kent be leaving if a deal was really brewing?

One positive move is that Coca-Cola has continued to get its operations aligned with existing markets with Anheuser-Busch. Could this have any impact on a would-be whale of a merger? Coca-Cola has a 52-week trading range of $39.88 to $47.13 and a market cap of $179 billion. Its dividend yield is 3.4%.

PepsiCo ended at $104.63 a share on the last trading day of 2016, and its return for shareholders was almost 8%. Pepsi outperformed rival Coca-Cola, in part due to its diversification with snack foods that Coca-Cola does not have. Pepsi’s dividend yield is lower than its Dow component rival at 2.9%. The consensus price target of $116.85 would imply an upside price move of 11.7% and a total return of 14.6%, if you include the dividend.

Pepsi shares have now just doubled off the V-bottom in early 2009, more or less in line with its Dow component rival. Pepsi routinely gets calls to break apart the beverage and snack foods businesses. This is an effort that falls on deaf ears, and the company seems better off for growth and financial aspects for being diversified in this aspect.

The company forecast organic revenue to grow by 4% this year. Free cash flow was targeted at over $7 billion, on operating cash flow of more than $10 billion, and capital spending was forecast at $3 billion for the year. Pepsi also noted that its 2016 plans were to pay out about $4 billion in dividends this year and buy back about $3 billion in stock. CEO Indra Nooyi said with its last earnings report:

We are pleased with our results for the third quarter and year to date. We are executing our strategy well and managing what is in our control. Our product portfolio, geographic mix and capability centers are enabling us to deliver balanced revenue and productivity. Based on our year-to-date performance and our outlook for the fourth quarter, we are raising our full-year core constant currency EPS growth objective.

PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have many of the same foreign exchange and international market issues. That being said, it seems highly unlikely that rising interest rates will matter to the core company business of either company.

Valuations are not cheap in either company here. Coca-Cola is valued at about 21 times expected earnings, with Pepsi’s forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio being less than one point lower. Still, Pepsi’s market cap is less than Coca-Cola’s at $150 billion, while Pepsi’s expected current year sales of almost $63 billion is 50% higher than Coke’s expected revenues.

In an effort to get with the times, Pepsi is aiming to lower sugar calories on average. Whether that works, and whether the stevia trend remains, remains to be seen. Still, in September of 2016, Pepsi made sure to raise its guidance for stronger North American sales. Similar to Coca-Cola, Trump’s pro-growth and pro-consumer policies may not make much specific impact for the likes of Pepsi.

Pepsi has a 52-week trading range of $93.25 to $110.94 and a market cap of $150 billion. Its dividend yield is 2.9%.

The long and short of the matter that companies selling sugar-water as their “bread and butter” may not be the most rewarding for a pro-growth investor mindset that took form in late 2016. Still, sometimes the sleepers and dead-money stocks perform the best (like Caterpillar in 2016).

When it comes to an investor taste test, the prospects for Coca-Cola seem very similar to Pepsi. There is a call for perhaps a tad more upside on Pepsi’s share price gains ahead, but a better dividend yield in Coke. Valuations seem rather high considering the business cycle, but earnings predictability and dividend growth would explain some of that away. There is a lot of ground that remains unknown for 2017 in the beverage industry, including how these companies have made so many outside partnerships with companies in self-serve, coffee, energy drinks and more. Those efforts may not see their largest payoff for years, and there could be more consolidation in the beverages sector ahead.

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