# Coca Cola Co. (KO)

> Makes and sells drinks under its brands, mainly through independent bottlers and other distribution partners.

- Exchange: NYSE · Sector: Consumer Staples · Industry: Beverages Non Alcoholic
- Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia
- Founded: 1892
- Employees: 65,900 (December 31, 2025)
- SEC CIK: 0000021344 ([filings on EDGAR](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000021344))
- Full page: https://inspectstocks.com/stocks/ko
- Data as of: price 2026-09-25; newest filing used 2026-04-30; latest fiscal period ended 2026-04-03

## Grade

**A+** on the growth-and-cash rubric, 5 of 5 checks passed.

| Check | Result | Now | Before |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Revenue growing overall | passed | $49.3B | $43.5B |
| Revenue growing recently | passed | $49.3B | $47.9B |
| Free cash flow positive | passed | $12.6B |  |
| Free cash flow growing overall | passed | $12.6B | $9B |
| Free cash flow growing recently | passed | $12.6B | $5.3B |

Business quality (the + / − mark): 6 of 6 checks passed.

| Check | Result | Now | Before |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Profitable | passed | 27.8% |  |
| Healthy profit margin | passed | 27.8% |  |
| Strong operating margin | passed | 29.3% |  |
| Good return on equity | passed | 42.6% |  |
| Debt under control | passed | 1.47 |  |
| Turns sales into cash | passed | 25.5% |  |

How the grade works: the letter counts failed checks (none → A, one → B, two → C, three → D, four or more → F). It is built from SEC filings only — the share price never enters it — and describes the business, not whether the stock is worth buying.

## Key figures

In US dollars, as filed.

| Measure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Revenue, trailing twelve months | $49.3B |
| Net income, trailing twelve months | $13.7B |
| Free cash flow, trailing twelve months | $12.6B |
| Net margin | 27.8% |
| Operating margin | 29.3% |
| Return on equity | 42.6% |
| Debt to equity | 1.47 |
| Diluted EPS, trailing twelve months | $3.18 |
| Share price | $87.81 |
| Market value | $377.8B |
| Price / earnings | 27.6x |
| Price / sales | 7.7x |

## What the business does

The Coca-Cola Company owns or licenses drink brands, including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta and fairlife. It sells drink concentrates and syrups to bottlers, who make, package and distribute many of the finished drinks; the company also sells finished drinks through its own bottling operations and other channels. Its drinks are sold in more than 200 countries and territories.

### How it makes money

- **North America** (38.4% (quarter ended March 31, 2026)) — This is the share for the North America reporting segment. Much of the company's business in its geographic segments comes from selling concentrates and syrups to bottlers; it also sells fountain syrup and some finished drinks.
- **Europe, Middle East and Africa** (23.7% (quarter ended March 31, 2026)) — This is the share for the Europe, Middle East and Africa reporting segment. Revenue comes mainly from concentrates and syrups sold to bottlers, as well as some finished-drink and Costa retail sales.
- **Latin America** (13.2% (quarter ended March 31, 2026)) — This is the share for the Latin America reporting segment. The company generally earns revenue by selling concentrates and syrups to bottlers, who make and distribute the drinks.
- **Bottling Investments** (12.9% (quarter ended March 31, 2026)) — This segment includes bottling and distribution businesses the company consolidates. These businesses earn revenue by selling finished drinks to retailers or to distributors and wholesalers.
- **Asia Pacific** (11.8% (quarter ended March 31, 2026)) — This is the share for the Asia Pacific reporting segment. The company generally earns revenue by selling concentrates and syrups to bottlers, who make and distribute the drinks.

### Products

- **Coca-Cola drinks** — Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar drinks, including their variations.
- **Sparkling-flavor drinks** — Carbonated drinks sold under brands such as Sprite and Fanta.
- **Water, sports, coffee and tea drinks** — Products include Dasani and smartwater, Powerade, Costa coffee, and Fuze Tea.
- **Juice, dairy and plant-based drinks** — Products include Simply and Minute Maid juices, fairlife dairy drinks, and innocent beverages.
- **Emerging beverages** — The company sells or distributes drinks in newer or developing categories, including energy drinks such as Monster in certain territories.
- **Alcohol drinks** — Ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages include Jack Daniel’s & Coca-Cola, Lemon-Dou and Topo Chico Hard Seltzer.

### Customers

- Independent bottling partners buy concentrates and syrups under contracts, then make, package and distribute drinks in authorized territories.
- Retailers, including grocery stores and convenience stores, buy finished drinks from the company, bottlers or distributors for sale to consumers.
- Restaurants and other fountain retailers serve drinks made at the point of purchase from syrup; some buy syrup directly, while others buy it through authorized wholesalers or bottlers.
- Distributors and wholesalers buy finished drinks and sell or deliver them to retailers.

### Competitors

- PepsiCo (PEP) — Sells competing soft drinks and other beverages, including Pepsi, Gatorade and its water and juice brands.
- Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) — Sells competing soft drinks and other drinks, including Dr Pepper, 7UP and Snapple.
- Nestlé (NSRGY) — Competes in bottled water and other drink categories.
- Danone (DANOY) — Competes in bottled water and dairy-based drinks.
- Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) — Competes in alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages.
- Red Bull GmbH — Competes in energy drinks.

### What it depends on

- The company depends on independent bottling partners to make, package and distribute much of its branded beverage volume; its five largest bottling partners together handled 44% of worldwide system unit case volume in 2025 (2025, high).
- Water is an ingredient in substantially all of its products, and water shortages or poor water quality can affect the company's and its bottlers' costs and ability to operate.
- The company and its bottlers rely on agricultural ingredients and packaging materials, including sweeteners, fruit juice, milk and aluminum cans; some packaging materials have a limited number of suppliers.
- Its products, ingredients, advertising and packaging are subject to food, labeling, competition and environmental rules in the countries where it operates.

### What could go wrong

- If bottling partners have financial problems or the company cannot maintain good relationships with them, production and distribution of many branded drinks could be affected.
- Water scarcity, poor water quality, climate-related weather changes and crop problems such as citrus greening can disrupt supplies or raise the cost of water, orange juice and other ingredients.
- Health concerns about sweeteners or other ingredients, or new rules on ingredients, labels and beverage packaging, could require product changes, limit sales or increase costs.

## More on this company

- [Overview](https://inspectstocks.com/stocks/ko)
- [Financial statements](https://inspectstocks.com/stocks/ko/financials)
- [Competitors](https://inspectstocks.com/stocks/ko/peers)
- [Earnings](https://inspectstocks.com/stocks/ko/earnings)

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Source: InspectStocks, built from the company’s own SEC filings. This describes a business — it is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.