Soft-drink giant Coca-Cola (KO) is set to release its Q4 results on February 11. KO stock has gained over 10% over the past year, fueled by its strong brand recognition, extensive global distribution network, and new product offerings. Wall Street analysts anticipate the company will report earnings of $0.52 per share, reflecting a 6% year-over-year increase.
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Meanwhile, revenues are expected to decline by 2.4% from the same quarter last year, reaching $10.68 billion, according to data from the TipRanks Forecast page. Notably, KO has beaten EPS estimates for the past nine consecutive quarters.
Analysts’ Views on KO Ahead of Q4 Results
Ahead of KO’s Q4 results, the majority of the analysts are optimistic about the stock. One such analyst is Nik Modi of RBC Capital, who reiterated an Outperform rating and $69.00 price target on Coca-Cola.
Modi expects strong organic growth in both U.S. and international markets for Q4 2024, likely beating analyst expectations. He thinks Coca-Cola is in a strong position and can use strategies like pricing, managing revenue growth, and cutting costs to achieve steady earnings growth. However, he believes that currency headwinds could impact 2025 earnings.
Similarly, Jefferies analyst Kaumil Gajrawala is optimistic about the company’s growth prospects, citing its strong fundamentals and expected cash flow growth. He upgraded Coca-Cola’s rating from Hold to Buy and increased its price target to $75 from $69 per share.
The analyst believes that dividend growth and share buybacks will continue to drive the company’s future EPS growth, despite rising interest costs and currency pressures.
Options Traders Anticipate a Minor Move
Using TipRanks’ Options tool, we can see what options traders are expecting from the stock immediately after its earnings report. The expected earnings move is determined by calculating the at-the-money straddle of the options closest to expiration after the earnings announcement. If this sounds complicated, don’t worry, the Options tool does this for you.
Indeed, it currently says that options traders are expecting a 2.93% move in either direction.
Is Coca-Cola a Good Stock to Buy Today?
The stock of Coca-Cola has a consensus Strong Buy rating among 13 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on twelve Buys and one Hold recommendation issued in the past three months. The average KO price target of $71.46 implies an 11.9% upside risk from current levels.
