Coca-Cola (KO) held on to its momentum to deliver another bubbly quarter on Tuesday.
The soda giant beat Wall Street's estimates in Q2, led by global demand for its beverages, despite higher prices. Revenue grew 3% to $12.4 billion, compared to the expected $11.76 billion. Earnings per share came in 7% higher year over year at $0.84, compared to estimates of $0.81.
On a call with Yahoo Finance, CEO James Quincey attributed the results to "a strong execution of the strategy." Consequently, the company is raising its 2024 guidance.
"We're expressing a confidence in our ability to deliver on the 2024 guidance ... it's really a manifestation of confidence in our long-term strategy to create brands and to be able to work with our bottling partners to execute them," he said.
Overall, unit case volume jumped 2%, while pricing was up 9%.
"You have to parse out a handful of countries that have very high inflation," like Argentina, Quincey said. "They are accounting for about half of the price mix." He said without that, price in dollars is up 4%.
He added that headline inflation in the US and Europe is getting to the 3% range, which reflects in Coca-Cola's numbers.
"Inflation ... is getting into the kind of normalized space," he said. The company raised its full-year guidance and now expects organic revenue to grow 9% to 10%, up from 8% to 9% in the previous estimate.
In the previous quarter, Coca-Cola reported $11.3 billion in revenue, beating Wall Street estimates of $10.96 billion, while its earnings per share of $0.72 also topped expectations of $0.70.
As US consumers remain cautious about where they spend their dollars, fast food chains like McDonald's (MCD), Burger King (QSR), and Taco Bell (YUM) are hoping to entice consumers with value and meal deals this summer.
Coca-Cola reportedly played a role in the $5 meal bundle at McDonald's, which is now extended to August. At the time, a spokesperson told Yahoo Finance, “We routinely partner with our customers on marketing programs to meet consumer needs.”
Quincey said the company is still seeing the "continuation of, essentially, the lower-income consumers being under pressure."
"Wages are starting to run ahead of overall inflation, but interest rates are still relatively high, and so they're economizing to some extent."
Per JPMorgan analyst Andrea Teixeira, the lower-income consumer makes up about 20% of Coca-Cola's US volumes.
Consumers are going to restaurant chains less, looking for value meals when they do, or trading down at grocery stores.
"That's an ongoing effect. I don't think it's got particularly worse or particularly better in the second quarter. I think it's still a feature of what's going on," Quincey said.
Coca-Cola saw unit case volume decrease 1% in North America as pricing jumped 11%.
Year to date, shares are up 8%, lagging behind the S&P 500 (^GSPC) but far outperforming rival PepsiCo (PEP), whose shares are slightly down.
PepsiCo reported earnings last week that beat estimates, but its US demand has weakened, Brian Sozzi reported.
On PepsiCo's earnings call, CEO Ramon Laguarta said, "For many categories, the multiple-year inflation that we had to take because our input costs went up has created some perception and some reality in a lot of households that food is expensive. And consumers are making choices, and they can make choices to cook versus buy finished goods or finished products, or they can make a lot of decisions around how they spend their money and how do they feed themselves every day with the lowest budget."
Per Coca-Cola's release, it gained value share in total nonalcoholic ready-to-drink (NARTD) beverages. Quincey said the team has spent a lot of time "fine-tuning strategies in terms of being a total-beverage player" with the revitalization of the namesake Coke brand.
When asked if Coca-Cola would ever stray away from solely beverages, Quincey said, "I rarely say never ... chances of us being something other than beverages are very low."
That could be a leg up in this consumer environment.
Prior to the report, UBS analyst Peter Grom said weakness from consumers is "largely concentrated on the convenient food side of the business rather than beverages."
Here's what Coca-Cola reported in Q2 compared to Wall Street's expectations, per Bloomberg consensus data:
Revenue: $12.4 billion versus $ 11.76 billion
Adjusted earnings per share: $0.84 versus 0.81
Unit case volume growth: 2.00% versus 1.77%
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Brooke DiPalma is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at [email protected].