Coca-Cola (KO) 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 companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations and risk.

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 3.2%. PepsiCo pays an annual dividend of $5.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. 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 79.9% 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 63 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor KO or PEP?

Coca-Cola received 83 more outperform votes than PepsiCo when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.88% of users gave Coca-Cola an outperform vote while only 67.87% of users gave PepsiCo an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Coca-Cola	Outperform Votes 1194 67.88%	Underperform Votes 565 32.12%
PepsiCo	Outperform Votes 1111 67.87%	Underperform Votes 526 32.13%

Does the media favor KO or PEP?

In the previous week, PepsiCo had 4 more articles in the media than Coca-Cola. MarketBeat recorded 29 mentions for PepsiCo and 25 mentions for Coca-Cola. PepsiCo's average media sentiment score of 0.76 beat Coca-Cola's score of 0.53 indicating that PepsiCo is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Coca-Cola	12 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
PepsiCo	16 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is KO or PEP more profitable?

Coca-Cola has a net margin of 22.45% compared to PepsiCo's net margin of 10.18%. PepsiCo's return on equity of 57.32% 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	10.18%	57.32%	11.02%

Which has preferable 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	$46.37B	5.72	$10.71B	$2.42	25.42
PepsiCo	$91.92B	2.22	$9.07B	$6.78	21.95

Do insiders & institutionals believe 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 hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate KO or PEP?

Coca-Cola presently has a consensus target price of $72.50, suggesting a potential upside of 17.85%. PepsiCo has a consensus target price of $184.31, suggesting a potential upside of 23.85%. Given PepsiCo's higher possible upside, analysts clearly 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)	2 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.94
PepsiCo	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.31

Which has more risk and volatility, KO or PEP?

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

Summary

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