PepsiCo (PEP) Competitors

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

Does the media prefer KO or PEP?

In the previous week, PepsiCo had 31 more articles in the media than Coca-Cola. MarketBeat recorded 128 mentions for PepsiCo and 97 mentions for Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola's average media sentiment score of 1.08 beat PepsiCo's score of 0.56 indicating that Coca-Cola is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Coca-Cola	64 Very Positive mention(s)	12 Positive mention(s)	16 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
PepsiCo	53 Very Positive mention(s)	15 Positive mention(s)	27 Neutral mention(s)	18 Negative mention(s)	6 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is KO or PEP more profitable?

Coca-Cola has a net margin of 22.59% compared to PepsiCo's net margin of 10.43%. PepsiCo's return on equity of 58.87% beat Coca-Cola's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Coca-Cola	22.59%	45.37%	12.24%
PepsiCo	10.43%	58.87%	11.28%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of KO or PEP?

70.3% of Coca-Cola shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.1% of PepsiCo shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Coca-Cola shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of PepsiCo shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate KO or PEP?

Coca-Cola currently has a consensus target price of $75.06, suggesting a potential upside of 4.31%. PepsiCo has a consensus target price of $162.00, suggesting a potential upside of 21.46%. Given PepsiCo's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe PepsiCo is more favorable than Coca-Cola.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Coca-Cola	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.05
PepsiCo	1 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.17

Which has better earnings & valuation, KO or PEP?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Coca-Cola	$47.06B	6.58	$10.63B	$2.47	29.13
PepsiCo	$91.85B	1.99	$9.58B	$6.95	19.19

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer KO or PEP?

Coca-Cola received 94 more outperform votes than PepsiCo when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.24% of users gave Coca-Cola an outperform vote while only 67.23% of users gave PepsiCo an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Coca-Cola	Outperform Votes 1214 68.24%	Underperform Votes 565 31.76%
PepsiCo	Outperform Votes 1120 67.23%	Underperform Votes 546 32.77%

Which has more volatility & risk, KO or PEP?

Coca-Cola has a beta of 0.45, indicating that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PepsiCo has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is KO or PEP a better dividend stock?

Coca-Cola pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. PepsiCo pays an annual dividend of $5.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Coca-Cola pays out 82.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. PepsiCo pays out 78.0% 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 has raised its dividend for 64 consecutive years and PepsiCo has raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years. PepsiCo is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Coca-Cola beats PepsiCo on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.