Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Competitive strategy, Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP)

After seeing PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) beat analyst estimates earlier this week for its third quarter, there are going to be some big expectations for its main rival, Coca Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) when it reports its third quarter numbers next Wednesday.

The stock has been impressing analysts at Citigroup lately. Just yesterday the broker lifted its price target on the stock to $67 a share (the stock is currently trading at $57.50), citing improved fundamentals in its Japanese businesses. The broker currently has a buy rating on the company.

Analysts are expecting the soft drink giant to come through with earnings of 68 cents per share for its most recent quarter, and based on the company’s solid earnings history, I would not bet against it this time around. The company last reported earnings back on July 17, posting EPS of 85 cents and easily beating Q2 analysts’ estimates by 3 cents. In fact, if you look back at the company’s history you will find that it has beat estimates for each of its last seventeen quarters. That’s a pretty nice run.

Continue reading Coca Cola (KO) third quarter earnings preview

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2007 at 9:05 pm and is filed under Stocks Money News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.