Coca-Cola shares lose fizz despite Q4 earnings beat

Today’s headlines

What’s happening: Shares of Coca-Cola Company edged lower on Tuesday after the company released its fourth-quarter results.

What happened: The beverage giant posted better-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter, while sales missed estimates.

Coca-Cola signalled steady organic growth, but weaker margins and a softer guidance weighed on the stock.

How were the results: The Atlanta, Georgia-based company reported low single-digit sales growth for the fourth quarter.

• Quarterly sales rose 2% year-over-year to $11.80 billion, falling short of consensus estimates of $12.026 billion.
• Adjusted earnings came in at 58 cents per share, topping Wall Street expectations of 56 cents per share.

Why it matters: Coca-Cola has been increasing prices of its beverages in a bid to offset rising input costs due to tariffs. The higher prices led to price-conscious consumers holding back purchases.

Last year, the company had launched mini single-serve cans, priced at less than $2 in the US, to attract more customers. Last week, the company’s rival, PepsiCo, announced plans to slash prices on snacks, including Lay’s and Doritos.

Coca-Cola’s organic revenues surged 5% in the latest quarter, following 4% growth in concentrate sales and 1% gain in price/mix. The recent organic growth was driven by Latin America, while Asia Pacific remained flat during the quarter.

Coca-Cola’s operating income contracted 32% last quarter, while operating margins shrank to 15.6%, from 23.5% in the year-ago period.

The company continued investments in its several business lines, with $2.1 billion in capital expenditures during 2025, up 2% from the previous year.

Management guided to organic revenue growth of 4%-5% for fiscal 2026, compared to market estimates of 5.01%. The company projected adjusted earnings growth of 7%-8% for the year, representing a slowdown from the 9% recorded in 2025.

How shares responded: Coca-Cola’s stock fell 1.5% to close at $76.81 on Tuesday following the release of quarterly earnings. The stock had jumped around 9% over the past month.

What to watch: Investors will continue monitoring the company’s pricing strategy and the competition faced from PepsiCo.

The markets today

Crude oil in focus today ahead of inventories data

Context: Crude oil prices rose this morning, after recording losses in the previous session.

Details: Investors continued monitoring ongoing talks between the US and Iran. US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was looking to send a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East in case talks over Iran’s nuclear program fail.

Although initial negotiations were positive last week, investors remained concerned about failed talks triggering strikes by the US on Tehran, which would weigh on Iranian oil supplies.

Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute reported that US crude oil inventories rose by 13.4 million barrels in the week ended February 6, following a drawdown of 11.1 million barrels in the previous week. This marked the steepest rise since January 2023.

Weakness in the US dollar lent support to oil prices this morning, as a softer greenback makes commodities cheaper for foreign currency holders. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, fell more than 0.1% to 96.68.

Spot prices for WTI crude oil rose 0.5% to $64.40 a barrel this morning, while Brent crude added 0.4% to trade at $68.97 a barrel.

What to watch: Investors await the release of EIA’s data on changes in crude oil stockpiles (1930 UAE Time), gasoline inventories (1730 UAE Time) and distillate stocks (1930 UAE Time) today. US crude stockpiles declined by 3.455 million barrels in the week ended January 30, higher than market estimates of a 2-million-barrel draw. US gasoline stockpiles surged by 0.685 million barrels during the same week, while distillate stocks fell by 5.553 million barrels.

The OPEC’s (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) monthly market outlook report, due to be released today, will also remain in focus.

Other Markets: European indices closed mostly lower on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100, DAX 40 and STOXX Europe 600 Index down by 0.31%, 0.11% and 0.07%, respectively, and the CAC 40 up by 0.06%.

The news shaping the markets

Russia announced attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which resulted in a power outage in the Lozova community in the Kharkiv region. The news sent the USD/RUB pair lower in forex trading this morning.

South Korea’s unemployment rate fell to 3% in January from 3.3% in the previous month, which exerted pressure on the USD/KRW forex pair.

China’s producer prices fell 1.4% year-over-year in January following a 1.9% decline in the previous month, which sent the USD/CNY pair slightly higher in forex trading this morning.

Australia’s home loans surged 10.6% to a record high of A$65.3 billion in the fourth quarter, up from the previous quarter’s 6.2% growth, lending support to the AUD/USD forex pair.

Argentina’s consumer prices surged 2.9% in January, following 2.8% growth in December. However, the USD/ARS pair slipped in forex trading this morning.

What else to watch today

Italy’s industrial production (1300 UAE Time) Brazil’s PPI (1600 UAE Time), Mexico’s industrial production (1600 UAE Time), US MBA mortgage applications (1600 UAE Time), nonfarm payrolls (1730 UAE Time), unemployment rate (1730 UAE Time), average hourly earnings (1730 UAE Time), EIA Cushing crude oil stocks change (1930 UAE Time), EIA heating oil stocks change (1930 UAE Time) and monthly budget statement (2300 UAE Time), Russia’s balance of trade (1700 UAE Time) and business confidence (2000 UAE Time) as well as Canada’s building permits (1730 UAE Time).