Morgan Stanley Calls For Deeper Cuts At Coca-Cola

falling profits and flat revenue are signs of a sea-change in soft-drink consumption, the analyst said Wednesday. Morgan Stanley's Dara Mohsenian said health worries about the calorie content of soft drinks along with the challenges of an aging population will put a long-term hurt the company's sales. Moreover, preferences for sweetened beverages are shifting away from soda toward non-carbonated drinks where Coke has a comparatively low market share. Along with Coke's disappointing third-quarter results Wednesday, the company unveiled plans to save more than $3 billion in costs by 2019. The company laid out a similar plan earlier this year calling for just $1 billion in savings. But Mohsenian said investors had hoped for deeper cost-cuts, while the lack of detail offered during a conference call "made the program seem a bit rushed." Mohsenian maintains an Equal Weight rating on Coke and yes, he prefers

which also owns the Frito-Lay and Quaker Foods brands. Coke sales growth has slowed relative to Pepsi for nine straight quarters, which Mohsenian suggests "Coke's issues are more company specific." Coke fell more than 8 percent recently and closed down Wednesday nearly unchanged at $40.62 a share.