Coca-Cola Analysts Remain Optimistic As Shares Stagnate Despite Impressive First-Quarter Earnings

Shares of Coca-Cola Co KO Tuesday continued to fizzle out despite the company reporting upbeat first-quarter results.

Here are some key analyst takeaways from the beverage giant’s quarterly results.

Bernstein On Coca-Cola

Analyst Callum Elliott maintained an Outperform rating and price target of $66.

“Organic growth came in at +12% for the quarter, comfortably ahead of consensus +10%, albeit slightly behind our +12.6%,” Elliott said in a note. He added that the miss was due to “a lag between unit case volume at +3% (more reflective of consumer demand); and concentrate shipments +1% (reflected in KO's revenue).”

“These measures should equalise through the year, and therefore present further upside to numbers for the remainder of the year,” the analyst further stated.

RBC Capital Markets On Coca-Cola

Analyst Nik Modi reaffirmed an Outperform rating and price target of $69.

“Strong quarter for KO with a top and bottom-line beat and reiteration of guidance giving us increased confidence KO can deliver for the year,” Modi said.

“We continue believe KO is well positioned to execute its strategy to deliver both locally and globally in a challenging macro environment,” he added.

Check out other analyst stock ratings.

Morgan Stanley On Coca-Cola

Analyst Dara Mohsenian reiterated an Overweight rating and price target of $70.

“Coke's strong organic sales growth start to the year with 14% underlying organic sales growth confirms strong top-line momentum with both a rational pricing environment, and underlying volume growth, with a strong 7% 4-yr org sales CAGR vs 2019 in Q1, in-line with H2 of 2022,” Mohsenian wrote in a note.

“Net, FY EPS visibility has increased after a better than expected Q1, but unsurprisingly, Coke is maintaining FY EPS guidance given it is early in the year and a volatile external environment, and a Q1 revenue beat was expected and April trends softer so far,” he added.

KO Price Action: Shares of Coca-Cola were flat to $63.99 at the time of publishing Tuesday.

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