Shares of Coca-Cola fell on Wednesday following an unexpected dip in unit case volumes, even as the world's largest soft drink manufacturer posted results that bettered estimates. There was a 1% year-on-year decrease in third-quarter unit case volumes, primarily due to a 2% drop in concentrate sales, which the company attributes to shipment timings. Notably, volumes dropped by 2% in the Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, while remaining steady in North America and Latin America.
Although this volume decline occurred, increased pricing enabled the company to outperform adjusted profit and revenue projections. Coca-Cola declared an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.77, and revenue depreciated by 0.8% to $11.85 billion. In comparison, analysts polled by Visible Alpha had projected $0.75 and $11.65 billion, respectively.
Price/mix experienced a growth of 10%, with about 4 percentage points stemming from markets encountering severe inflation, and the rest due to marketplace pricing actions and a favorable mix.
CEO James Quincey expressed optimism about the firm's 2024 performance so far and its capacity to handle immediate challenges whilst still concentrating on long-term growth opportunities. Coca-Cola has updated its full-year organic growth forecast to 10%, compared to the previous 9% to 10% estimate, factoring in the pricing impact of numerous markets experiencing severe inflation.
Despite a 2% fall in Coca-Cola shares on Wednesday morning, the shares have seen a nearly 15% increase in 2024.