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The world's biggest beverage maker, like rival PepsiCo Inc, has
been building up a portfolio of non-carbonated drinks and also
doubling down on its investments in enhanced waters such as Topo
Chico and electrolyte-filled smartwater.
Coca-Cola paid $5.1 billion for the world's second-largest
coffee chain Costa earlier this year and took a stake in Kobe
Bryant-backed sports drink BodyArmor in a bid to court a younger
demographic that prefers sipping lattes over gulping big sodas.
Chief Executive Officer James Quincey said this year's results
highlight Coca-Cola's "evolution as an even more
consumer-centric, total beverage company".
Organic revenue, or sales from its core beverage business, rose
6 percent in the third quarter, with double-digit volume growth
for Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.
Volumes, a key indicator of demand, grew 2 percent in the
quarter on strong performance of its sodas across categories,
along with premium waters.
The company earlier this year launched new flavors of Diet Coke
such as ginger lime, feisty cherry with slimmer packaging, and
said it will introduce two variants of its smartwater brand in
its flagship U.S. market.
"We are impressed with Coca-Cola's ability to deliver a strong
and balanced topline, suggesting that its refranchising and
portfolio transformation are paying off," Wells Fargo analyst
Bonnie Herzog said.
Net income attributable to the company's shareholders rose to 30
percent in the three months ended Sept. 28.
Excluding one-time items, Coca-Cola said it earned 58 cents per
share, beating analysts' average estimate by 3 cents, according
to Refinitiv data.
Revenue fell 9 percent to $8.25 billion, due to the disposal of
its low-margin bottling operations, but beat expectation of
$8.17 billion.
The company's shares were largely unchanged in premarket
trading. This year, the shares have gained 1.2 percent, compared
with a near 6 percent drop for PepsiCo. The broader S&P 500
Consumer Staples index is down 4.5 percent for the period.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by
Sriraj Kalluvila)
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