Coca-Cola (KO) Competitors

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

Is KO or PEP a better dividend stock?

Coca-Cola pays an annual dividend of $1.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. PepsiCo pays an annual dividend of $5.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Coca-Cola pays out 80.2% 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 35 consecutive years and PepsiCo has raised its dividend for 35 consecutive years. PepsiCo is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in KO or PEP?

70.3% of Coca-Cola shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.1% of PepsiCo shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Coca-Cola shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of PepsiCo shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is KO or PEP more profitable?

Coca-Cola has a net margin of 22.45% 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	22.45%	44.01%	12.07%
PepsiCo	10.43%	58.87%	11.28%

Does the media favor KO or PEP?

In the previous week, PepsiCo had 77 more articles in the media than Coca-Cola. MarketBeat recorded 167 mentions for PepsiCo and 90 mentions for Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola's average media sentiment score of 1.10 beat PepsiCo's score of 0.83 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	57 Very Positive mention(s)	10 Positive mention(s)	19 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
PepsiCo	85 Very Positive mention(s)	22 Positive mention(s)	28 Neutral mention(s)	17 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings and 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	$45.75B	6.04	$10.71B	$2.42	26.51
PepsiCo	$91.85B	2.15	$9.07B	$6.95	20.69

Does the MarketBeat Community favor KO or PEP?

Coca-Cola received 86 more outperform votes than PepsiCo when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.04% of users gave Coca-Cola an outperform vote while only 67.49% of users gave PepsiCo an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Coca-Cola	Outperform Votes 1203 68.04%	Underperform Votes 565 31.96%
PepsiCo	Outperform Votes 1117 67.49%	Underperform Votes 538 32.51%

Do analysts rate KO or PEP?

Coca-Cola currently has a consensus target price of $72.19, indicating a potential upside of 12.52%. PepsiCo has a consensus target price of $171.47, indicating a potential upside of 19.27%. Given PepsiCo's higher probable 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)	16 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
PepsiCo	1 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.35

Which has more volatility and risk, KO or PEP?

Coca-Cola has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PepsiCo has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Coca-Cola beats PepsiCo on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.