Coca-Cola Telenovela Club Offers Consumers the Opportunity to Relive the Passion of "Destilando Amor"

Grant Supports a National System of Community Trails

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Maybach

These are some of the top downgrades we have seen this Monday morning with about 2 hours until the open: Adobe Systems (ADBE) Cut to Market Perform at FBR. AMB Property (AMB) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs. Blackbaud (BLKB) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia. Coca-Cola (KO) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank. EMC Insurance (EMCI) Cut to Underperform at KBW. Heidrick & Struggles (HSII) Cut to Underperform at Baird. KKR Financial (KFN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan. Omniture (OMTR) Cut to Market Perform at FBR. ProLogis (PLD) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs. Varian Medical (VAR) Cut to...

Coca-Cola Downgraded To Hold At Deutsche Bank

Despite their fire-sale prices, these stocks still earn investors' love.

The cost of protection is incredibly high.

Coke-related businesses continue to do well worldwide. Embotelladora Andina, its Chilean bottler, has expanded operations to Brazil and Argentina.

At a certain point in time, you may believe in the future prosperity of a certain industry. You may wish to compare various companies within that industry in order to handpick a few select companies that meet your criteria. But companies come in various shapes and sizes, so what's the best way to compare their income statements? One helpful method is to create a common size income statement, which states each item as a percentage of revenue.For the most part Coke (KO) and Pepsi (PEP) are in the same industry. But with their differing sizes, it's difficult to make a meaningful side-by-side comparison of their income statements. Depicted below, however, is a common size statement for each of these companies from 2007, with each item representing a percentage of each company's respective revenue:<br[More...]

Make no mistake about it, the herd is headed for the exits—and bail out or not they are doing it in a hurry. In fact, according to TrimTabs Investment Research yesterday, the latest round of turmoil has sent $41 billion in equity mutual funds to the sidelines for the month through last Friday. At the same [...]

Filed under: Earnings reports, Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE)

Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG), a competitive colleague of Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE: CCE), reported earnings for the third quarter earlier in the week. I didn't find the release too exciting, to be honest. Revenues went up 2% to $3.8 billion. Earnings came in at $1.06 per share. In last year's quarter, Pepsi Bottling Group booked a bottom line equal to 98 cents per share, after adjustments. In terms of expectations, the company beat the analysts on Wall Street by two pennies better.

While an earnings beat is certainly a nice thing, let's take a look at what is perhaps one of the more important metrics when it comes to beverage manufacturers: case volume. I'm afraid there's nothing to write home about as far as this statistic is concerned. Case volume took a dive around the globe by a disappointing 6%. Management cited hard economic times as a contributing factor. Imagine that. You'd think that products found in the portfolios of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) would be pretty defensive in a tough economic period. Apparently, Pepsi Bottling Group found it difficult to distribute more of its drinks this past quarter.

Long term, I think Pepsi Bottling Group will be okay. But I think both PepsiCo and Coke need to find better ways of convincing people to continue to drink their flagship carbonated beverages. They've been on the decline over the past several years. As a stock, Pepsi Bottling Group isn't on my watch list. I already own shares of Coke, but even with that bias, I can honestly say that I wouldn't want to enter the bottler at this time. I'm not impressed with either the growth or the year-to-date stock performance.

Disclosure: I own Coke; positions can change at any time.

 

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE)

Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG), a competitive colleague of Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE: CCE), reported earnings for the third quarter earlier in the week. I didn't find the release too exciting, to be honest. Revenues went up 2% to $3.8 billion. Earnings came in at $1.06 per share. In last year's quarter, Pepsi Bottling Group booked a bottom line equal to 98 cents per share, after adjustments. In terms of expectations, the company beat the analysts on Wall Street by two pennies better.

While an earnings beat is certainly a nice thing, let's take a look at what is perhaps one of the more important metrics when it comes to beverage manufacturers: case volume. I'm afraid there's nothing to write home about as far as this statistic is concerned. Case volume took a dive around the globe by a disappointing 6%. Management cited hard economic times as a contributing factor. Imagine that. You'd think that products found in the portfolios of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) would be pretty defensive in a tough economic period. Apparently, Pepsi Bottling Group found it difficult to distribute more of its drinks this past quarter.

Long term, I think Pepsi Bottling Group will be okay. But I think both PepsiCo and Coke need to find better ways of convincing people to continue to drink their flagship carbonated beverages. They've been on the decline over the past several years. As a stock, Pepsi Bottling Group isn't on my watch list. I already own shares of Coke, but even with that bias, I can honestly say that I wouldn't want to enter the bottler at this time. I'm not impressed with either the growth or the year-to-date stock performance.

Disclosure: I own Coke; positions can change at any time.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

As global companies cope up with the "economic Pearl Harbor" by selling assets and stakes, Warren E. Buffett is out on a shopping spree.[More...]

Colleen S. King takes a look at news on the Street after the market closes.

Schaeffer's Andrea Kramer takes a look at unusual option activity on the Street

Colleen S. King takes a look at news on the Street before the market open.

Schaeffer's Carly Schaeffer takes a look at activity on the Street ahead of the market open

Companies featured in this segment: Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP), John Deere(NYSE:DE), Case New Holland (NYSE:CNH), Archer Daniel Midland (NYSE:ADM), Tyson Pork (NYSE:TSN), Penford (NASDAQ:PENX), Alliant Energy Corporation (NYSE:LNT), Pohang Iron and Steel Company (NYSE: PKX), CF Industries Incorporated (NYSE:CF), Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America's (NYSE:TM), Honda Motor Company (NYSE:HMC), General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM), Vale (NYSE:RIO), Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), Eli Lilly & Company (NYSE:LLY), Covance (NYSE:CVD), General Electric (NYSE:GE)