Coca-Cola beat Wall Street’s quarterly earnings and revenue estimates Tuesday and largely reaffirmed its full-year outlook, as it said it expects the effects of global trade conflicts to be “manageable.”
For 2025, Coke is still anticipating that its organic revenue will grow 5% to 6% and comparable earnings per share will increase 2% to 3%.
Unlike rival PepsiCo, Coke did not trim its full-year forecast. Coke said its operations are “primarily local,” although costs, like aluminum and orange juice, could rise due to the trade wars sparked by President Donald Trump’s tariffs. On Thursday, Pepsi cut its forecast for core constant currency earnings per share, citing the new tariffs, economic volatility and a more cautious consumer.
“One has to parse apart sentiment from behavior, and therefore, it’s very important that we are not responding to sentiment, we’re responding to behavior,” Coke CEO James Quincey said on the company’s conference call, adding that the company is sticking to its current pricing plans for the year.
Heading into the second quarter, Coke is facing tough comparisons to last year’s results, given the year-ago period was the company’s strongest. Coke is also projecting some short-term “choppiness” tied to the trade conflicts, particularly in the U.S., even if they don’t touch Coke’s business directly.
“I think there’s gonna be some disruption around a number of categories and industries around us, which will have some effect with the consumers,” Quincey said. “You can see the consumer sentiment has been impacted, [but] the consumer spending … still seems robust.”
Shares of Coke were roughly flat in morning trading.
Here’s what Coke reported for the first quarter compared with consensus estimates from Wall Street analysts surveyed by LSEG:
Earnings per share: 73 cents adjusted vs. 71 cents expectedRevenue: $11.22 billion adjusted vs. $11.14 billion expected
The beverage giant reported first-quarter net income attributable to shareholders of $3.33 billion, or 77 cents per share, up from $3.18 billion, or 74 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding restructuring charges, transactions gains and other items, Coke earned 73 cents per share.
Net sales dropped 2% to $11.13 billion. When excluding items affecting comparability, the company reported quarterly revenue of $11.22 billion.
The company’s organic revenue, which strips out acquisitions, divestitures and foreign currency, increased 6% during the quarter, boosted by higher prices on its drinks.
Coke’s unit case volume grew 2% in the quarter, lifted by growth in India, China and Brazil. The metric strips out the impact of pricing and foreign currency to reflect demand.
“During the quarter, some markets improved sequentially, while other markets face macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions that impacted consumer confidence and consumption behaviors,” Quincey told analysts.
North America underperformed during the quarter, for example. While away-from-home demand stayed strong, consumers weren’t buying as many of its drinks in grocery stores.
“In addition to challenges with severe weather and calendar shifts, volume was impacted by weakening consumer sentiment as the quarter progressed, particularly among Hispanic consumers,” Quincey said.
In February, rumors spread on social media that Coke had reported undocumented workers to U.S. immigration authorities. Coke denied the accusations, but Quincey said the “completely false” videos hurt traffic, particularly in Southern states.
The company’s sparkling soft drinks segment, which includes its namesake soda, saw volume rise 2%. Coke Zero Sugar’s volume climbed 14% in the quarter.
Coke’s juice, value-added dairy and plant-based drinks division reported volume growth of 1%. The business includes Fairlife, Simply Beverages and Minute Maid.
Coke’s water, sports, coffee and tea segment also posted volume growth of 2%, thanks to higher demand for its water. The company’s sports drinks and coffee brands saw declining volume, while tea was flat.
