Is a Surprise Coming for Coca-Cola (KO) This Earnings Season? - Tale of the Tape - Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO)

Investors are always looking for stocks that are poised to beat at earnings season and The Coca-Cola Company KO may be one such company. The firm has earnings coming up pretty soon, and events are shaping up quite nicely for their report.

That is because Coca-Cola is seeing favorable earnings estimate revision activity as of late, which is generally a precursor to an earnings beat. After all, analysts raising estimates right before earnings—with the most up-to-date information possible—is a pretty good indicator of some favorable trends underneath the surface for KO in this report.

In fact, the Most Accurate Estimate for the current quarter is currently at 63 cents per share for KO, compared to a broader Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents per share. This suggests that analysts have very recently bumped up their estimates for KO, giving the stock a Zacks Earnings ESP of 4.76% heading into earnings season.

Why is this Important?

A positive reading for the Zacks Earnings ESP has proven to be very powerful in producing both positive surprises, and outperforming the market. Our recent 10 year backtest shows that stocks that have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better show a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and have returned over 28% on average in annual returns (see more Top Earnings ESP stocks here).

Given that KO has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and an ESP in positive territory, investors might want to consider this stock ahead of earnings. Clearly, recent earnings estimate revisions suggest that good things are ahead for Coca-Cola, and that a beat might be in the cards for the upcoming report.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.

Click to get this free report

COCA COLA CO KO: Free Stock Analysis Report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

Zacks Investment Research

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs