Coca-Cola Consolidated (NASDAQ:COKE) vs. PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Financial Review

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) and Coca-Cola Consolidated (NASDAQ:COKE) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

PepsiCo has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Coca-Cola Consolidated has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Consolidated”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PepsiCo	$93.93 billion	2.29	$8.24 billion	$6.00	26.17
Coca-Cola Consolidated	$7.23 billion	1.79	$570.58 million	$6.82	28.55

PepsiCo has higher revenue and earnings than Coca-Cola Consolidated. PepsiCo is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Coca-Cola Consolidated, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

PepsiCo pays an annual dividend of $5.69 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Coca-Cola Consolidated pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. PepsiCo pays out 94.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Coca-Cola Consolidated pays out 14.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. PepsiCo has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years and Coca-Cola Consolidated has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. PepsiCo is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Consolidated’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PepsiCo	8.77%	57.92%	10.62%
Coca-Cola Consolidated	7.89%	66.42%	12.78%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

73.1% of PepsiCo shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.2% of Coca-Cola Consolidated shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of PepsiCo shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Consolidated, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PepsiCo	1	11	8	0	2.35
Coca-Cola Consolidated	0	0	1	0	3.00

PepsiCo currently has a consensus target price of $169.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.64%. Given PepsiCo’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe PepsiCo is more favorable than Coca-Cola Consolidated.

Summary

PepsiCo beats Coca-Cola Consolidated on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo, Inc. engages in the manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of various beverages and convenient foods worldwide. The company operates through seven segments: Frito-Lay North America; Quaker Foods North America; PepsiCo Beverages North America; Latin America; Europe; Africa, Middle East and South Asia; and Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand and China Region. It provides dips, cheese-flavored snacks, and spreads, as well as corn, potato, and tortilla chips; cereals, rice, pasta, mixes and syrups, granola bars, grits, oatmeal, rice cakes, and side dishes; beverage concentrates, fountain syrups, and finished goods; ready-to-drink tea, coffee, and juices; dairy products; and sparkling water makers and related products, as well as distributes alcoholic beverages under Hard MTN Dew brand. The company offers its products primarily under the Lay’s, Doritos, Fritos, Tostitos, BaiCaoWei, Cheetos, Cap’n Crunch, Life, Pearl Milling Company, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, Rice-A-Roni, Aquafina, Bubly, Emperador, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Gatorade Zero, Crush, Propel, Dr Pepper, Schweppes, Marias Gamesa, Ruffles, Sabritas, Saladitas, Tostitos, 7UP, Diet 7UP, H2oh!, Manzanita Sol, Mirinda, Pepsi Black, Pepsi Max, San Carlos, Toddy, Walkers, Chipsy, Kurkure, Sasko, Spekko, White Star, Smith’s, Sting, SodaStream, Lubimyj Sad, Agusha, Chudo, Domik v Derevne, Lipton, and other brands. It serves wholesale and other distributors, foodservice customers, grocery stores, drug stores, convenience stores, discount/dollar stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, hard discounters, e-commerce retailers and authorized independent bottlers, and others through a network of direct-store-delivery, customer warehouse, and distributor networks, as well as directly to consumers through e-commerce platforms and retailers. The company was founded in 1898 and is based in Purchase, New York.

About Coca-Cola Consolidated

Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes nonalcoholic beverages primarily products of The Coca-Cola Company in the United States. The company offers sparkling beverages; and still beverages, including energy products, as well as noncarbonated beverages comprising bottled water, ready to drink coffee and tea, enhanced water, juices, and sports drinks. It also sells its products to other Coca-Cola bottlers; and post-mix products that are dispensed through equipment, which mixes the fountain syrups with carbonated or still water enabling fountain retailers to sell finished products to consumers in cups or glasses. In addition, the company manufactures and distributes various other beverage brands that include Dr Pepper and Monster Energy. It sells and distributes its products directly to grocery stores, mass merchandise stores, club stores, convenience stores, and drug stores; and restaurants, schools, amusement parks, and recreational facilities, as well as through vending machine outlets. The company was formerly known as Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated and changed its name to Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. in January 2019. Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.