The Coca-Cola Company (KO) — Company Research
Last Updated: 18 June 2026
The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest non-alcoholic beverage business, built on an asset-light model that sells concentrates and syrups to a global network of independent bottlers while keeping the brand, marketing and pricing power in-house. With more than 200 brands led by Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, smartwater, Powerade, Costa and fairlife, the group generated $47.9bn of net operating revenue in 2025 and continues to gain global value share in the non-alcoholic ready-to-drink category. This report walks through Coca-Cola's segments, financial health, valuation, peers and risks using only primary-source filings. For live pricing see our Live Charts and upcoming macro events on the Economic Calendar.
1. Company Snapshot
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | The Coca-Cola Company |
| Ticker / Exchange | KO (NYSE) |
| Sector / Industry | Consumer Staples — Non-alcoholic Beverages |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| CEO | Henrique Braun (since 31 March 2026); James Quincey is Executive Chairman |
| Employees | ~65,900 worldwide (as of 31 December 2025) |
| Market cap | ~$344bn (mid-June 2026) |
| Revenue (FY2025) | $47.941bn net operating revenues |
| Net income (FY2025) | $13.107bn attributable to shareowners |
| FY2025 GAAP diluted EPS | $3.04 |
| Dividend (FY2025) | $2.04 per share (64th consecutive annual increase declared in 2026) |
2. Bull & Bear Case
Bull Case
- Unrivalled scale and brand power: Coca-Cola holds the leading global value share in non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages, giving it pricing power, shelf dominance and a distribution moat no rival can replicate.
- Asset-light, high-margin model: selling concentrate rather than finished product keeps margins high; FY2025 GAAP operating income rose 38% to $13.8bn with a comparable operating margin above 30%.
- Pricing plus volume: FY2025 organic revenue grew 5% and Q1 2026 organic revenue grew 10%, with both price/mix and unit case volume contributing, showing demand is not purely price-led.
- Dividend aristocrat: 2026 marked the 64th consecutive annual dividend increase, lifting the payout to an annualised $2.12, underpinned by durable cash generation.
- Emerging-market runway: momentum in China, India, Brazil and Central Asia provides a long volume-growth tailwind as per-capita consumption rises.
Bear Case
- Health and GLP-1 headwinds: anti-sugar sentiment, obesity drugs and shifting consumer preferences threaten long-term volumes in core sparkling categories.
- Regulatory and tax pressure: spreading sugar taxes, marketing restrictions and packaging/EPR rules raise costs and constrain pricing across many markets.
- Currency drag: with the majority of revenue earned abroad, a strong U.S. dollar repeatedly erodes reported results and clouds headline growth.
- BODYARMOR setback: a roughly $960m trademark impairment in 2026 underscored how hard it is to win in fast-moving categories like sports hydration.
- Tax litigation overhang: the long-running IRS transfer-pricing dispute carries a potential multi-billion-dollar liability that remains unresolved.
3. Business Segments
Coca-Cola reports through geographic operating segments plus a Bottling Investments segment that houses its consolidated bottling operations. The geographic segments earn the high-margin concentrate revenue, while Bottling Investments is lower-margin finished-product business that the company steadily refranchises.
| Segment | % of revenue (FY2025) | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| North America | ~41% | Concentrate and finished-product sales across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean — the largest revenue contributor. |
| EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) | ~24% | Concentrate operations spanning developed Europe through to high-growth African and Middle Eastern markets. |
| Latin America | ~13% | One of Coca-Cola's most profitable and highest per-capita-consumption regions, led by Mexico and Brazil. |
| Asia Pacific | ~12% | Concentrate business across China, India, Japan and South-East Asia — the key long-term volume-growth engine. |
| Bottling Investments | ~12% | Consolidated company-owned bottling operations; lower margin and progressively refranchised to independent partners. |
4. Competitive Moat
Brand and scale. Coca-Cola owns the single most recognised consumer brand on earth alongside a portfolio of billion-dollar trademarks. This brand equity supports premium pricing and near-universal retail distribution that competitors cannot easily challenge.
The bottling system. The "Coca-Cola system" — the company plus its independent bottling partners — gives Coca-Cola unmatched physical reach into roughly every country on earth, an infrastructure moat built over more than a century.
Marketing and innovation engine. Sustained, disciplined marketing investment and a steady cadence of reformulations, zero-sugar variants and category extensions (Coca-Cola Zero Sugar grew 14% in 2025) keep the portfolio relevant as tastes evolve.
5. Financial Health
Coca-Cola's five-year record shows steady mid-single-digit revenue growth, expanding comparable earnings and a consistently rising dividend, funded by strong underlying cash generation. Long-term debt stepped up in 2024–2025 partly to fund the fairlife acquisition-related obligations.
| Year | Revenue ($bn) | YoY % | GAAP EPS | Adjusted EPS | Dividend/share | Long-term debt (YE, $bn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | $38.655 | +17% | $2.25 | $2.32 | $1.68 | $38.116 |
| FY2022 | $43.004 | +11% | $2.19 | $2.48 | $1.76 | $36.377 |
| FY2023 | $45.754 | +6% | $2.47 | $2.69 | $1.84 | $35.547 |
| FY2024 | $47.061 | +3% | $2.46 | $2.88 | $1.94 | $42.375 |
| FY2025 | $47.941 | +2% | $3.04 | $3.00 | $2.04 | $42.119 |
Quarterly trend (most recent first), with the full-year 2025 total in bold:
| Quarter | Revenue ($bn) | Adjusted EPS | GAAP EPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | $12.472 | $0.86 | $0.91 |
| Q4 2025 | $11.822 | $0.58 | $0.53 |
| Q3 2025 | $12.456 | $0.82 | $0.86 |
| Q2 2025 | $12.540 | $0.87 | $0.88 |
| FY2025 total | $47.941 | $3.00 | $3.04 |
FY2025 operating cash flow was $7.408bn (depressed by a $6.1bn fairlife contingent-consideration payment in Q1), with capital expenditure of $2.112bn and depreciation and amortisation of $1.050bn.
6. Valuation
Raw metrics, June 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Market cap | ~$344bn (mid-June 2026) |
| Trailing P/E (GAAP) | ~25.3x |
| P/E (forward) | ~24.6x |
| P/S (TTM) | ~7.2x (market cap ~$344bn / FY2025 revenue $47.94bn) |
| Enterprise value | ~$374bn (market cap ~$344bn + total debt ~$45.5bn − cash & marketable securities ~$15.8bn per FY2025 balance sheet) |
| EV/EBITDA (TTM) | ~25.2x (EV ~$374bn / EBITDA ~$14.8bn; EBITDA = operating income $13.76bn + D&A $1.05bn) |
| P/FCF | ~65x (market cap ~$344bn / FCF ~$5.3bn; FCF = operating CF $7.41bn − capex $2.11bn per FY2025 cash flow statement; note OCF was depressed by a $6.1bn fairlife payment, so normalised FCF is materially higher) |
| 52-week high | $84.04 |
| 52-week low | $65.35 |
| Short interest (% of float) | ~0.96% |
| Days to cover | ~3.2 days |
7. Growth Strategy & Capital Allocation
Coca-Cola's strategy rests on its "all-weather" portfolio approach: investing behind core sparkling brands while expanding into water, sports, coffee, tea, juice and value-added dairy to capture more of the total beverage occasion. The 2026 guidance points to 4–5% organic revenue growth and 8–9% comparable currency-neutral EPS growth off the 2025 base. Capital allocation prioritises the dividend — raised for a 64th consecutive year in 2026 — alongside targeted bolt-on investment such as the $650m fairlife plant expansion in Michigan, while the company continues to refranchise lower-margin bottling operations, including the agreed sale of a controlling interest in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa to Coca-Cola HBC for roughly $2.6bn. Discuss ideas with other investors on the ChartsView Forum.
8. Peer Comparison
| Peer | Market cap (June 2026) | Key 2025 metric |
|---|---|---|
| PepsiCo (PEP) | ~$198bn | FY2025 net revenue ~$93.9bn (food + beverage) |
| Monster Beverage (MNST) | ~$74bn | FY2025 net sales $8.29bn (+10.7%) |
| Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) | ~$23bn | FY2025 net sales ~$16.6bn |
9. Insider Activity
Insider activity at Coca-Cola in 2026 has been routine selling tied to option exercises and pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans, with no open-market buying recorded. New CEO Henrique Braun took over from James Quincey (now Executive Chairman) on 31 March 2026; the transactions below relate to senior officers including Quincey and CFO John Murphy.
| Name | Date | Type | Shares | Price | Value | Plan Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Quincey | 03 Feb 2026 | Sale + option exercise | 337,824 | ~$77.10 | ~$26.0m | 10b5-1 |
| John Murphy | 02 Mar 2026 | Sale + option exercise | 72,449 | ~$80.52 | ~$5.8m | 10b5-1 |
| James Quincey | 03 Mar 2026 | Sale + option exercise | 250,688 | ~$79.14 | ~$19.8m | 10b5-1 |
| Jennifer K. Mann | 09 Jun 2026 | Sale | 100,000 | ~$80.75 | ~$8.1m | 10b5-1 |
10. Key Risks
- Health and wellness trends: declining demand for sugary drinks, plus the spread of GLP-1 weight-loss medications, could weigh on long-term volumes in core categories.
- Regulation and sugar taxes: expanding excise taxes, marketing restrictions and packaging/EPR rules increase costs and limit pricing flexibility across many markets.
- Foreign-exchange exposure: with most revenue earned outside the U.S., a strong dollar is a recurring drag on reported earnings.
- Input-cost inflation: volatility in aluminium, PET resin, sweeteners, juice concentrate and freight can compress margins.
- Competition: intense rivalry from PepsiCo, Keurig Dr Pepper, Monster and private label, plus emerging functional and hydration brands, as the BODYARMOR impairment highlighted.
- Tax litigation: the unresolved IRS transfer-pricing dispute represents a potential multi-billion-dollar liability.
11. Recent Developments
- 28 Apr 2026 — Q1 2026 earnings. Net revenues rose 12% to $12.5bn (organic +10%) with unit case volume up 3%; GAAP EPS was $0.91 and comparable EPS $0.86 (+18%), and full-year comparable EPS guidance was raised.
- 28 Apr 2026 — BODYARMOR impairment. Results included a non-cash trademark impairment of roughly $960m, reflecting competitive pressure in U.S. sports drinks.
- 31 Mar 2026 — CEO transition. Henrique Braun became Chief Executive Officer, with James Quincey moving to Executive Chairman.
- 24 Mar 2026 — fairlife expansion. Coca-Cola announced a $650m expansion of its fairlife plant in Coopersville, Michigan, adding capacity and around 150 jobs.
- 19 Feb 2026 — 64th dividend increase. The quarterly dividend was raised about 4% from $0.51 to $0.53, lifting the annualised rate to $2.12.
12. Key Dates
- 28 Jul 2026 — Expected Q2 2026 earnings release (before market open)
- 01 Jul 2026 — Q2 2026 quarterly dividend of $0.53/share payable
- 22 Oct 2026 — Expected Q3 2026 earnings release
- 31 Dec 2026 — Targeted close of the Coca-Cola Beverages Africa sale to Coca-Cola HBC
Disclaimer: This research is produced by ChartsView for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. All information is sourced from publicly available company filings, press releases, and official data. ChartsView does not use analyst opinions or third-party ratings. Always conduct your own due diligence and consider your personal financial situation before making investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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13. Thesis Verdict
The central thesis. The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest non-alcoholic beverage business, earning high-margin revenue by selling concentrates and syrups to a global network of independent bottlers while owning the brands, marketing and pricing. FY2025 net operating revenue rose 2% to $47.9bn with GAAP EPS of $3.04 and comparable EPS of $3.00, and management guided to 4-5% organic revenue growth and 8-9% comparable currency-neutral EPS growth for 2026. Continued global value-share gains and emerging-market volume growth in China, India and Brazil are the primary structural drivers.
What would confirm or break it. Q2 2026 earnings landing in line with or above the raised guidance, alongside sustained organic growth and the 64th consecutive dividend increase, would confirm the bull case. The thesis would be undermined by an adverse resolution of the IRS transfer-pricing litigation, accelerating health- and GLP-1-driven volume declines, or expanding sugar taxes and currency headwinds eroding reported earnings.
Watchpoints
- ConfirmsQ2 2026 earnings (40 days) landing in line with or above management guidance.
- ConfirmsEvidence supporting the "Unrivalled scale and brand power:" thesis continuing to build across subsequent filings.
- InvalidatesMaterialisation of the "Tax litigation:" risk, or any disclosure that fundamentally alters the capital-return or growth profile stated by management.
Diagnostic grid
Generated by ChartsView research tooling. Thesis strength measures how well the evidence in this report supports the company's stated thesis — it is NOT a buy/sell rating or price target. ChartsView is not authorised by the FCA to provide regulated investment advice. Generated 18 Jun 2026.