Coca-Cola stock pops on earnings surprise as the company calls Trump tariffs 'manageable'

Tue, Apr 29, 2025, 6:28 AM 2 min read

Coca-Cola (KO) is serving up the defensive characteristics of its business model to investors weathering a brutal trade war.

Shares of the beverage giant rose nearly 2% in pre-market trading on Tuesday as it beat on first quarter earnings and didn't issue a warning with its full year guidance. The company said in a statement it expects the impact of the trade war to be "manageable" this year.

That isn't to say consumers aren't showing signs of being under pressure, as large companies begin to raise prices to compensate for their higher costs of doing business.

In Coke's North America business, for example, unit case volumes fell 3% as it raised prices by 8%. It was the second largest price increase amongst Coke's divisions, behind a 16% hike in Latin America.

"Organic fundamentals remain strong globally but is still subject to global macro pressures, and we do call out some weakness in Coca-Cola in the US late in the quarter. However, we believe KO is well positioned to manage through the global volatility and has the proper levers to deliver targets for the year," RBC Capital Markets analyst Nik Modi said ahead of the results.

• Net sales: -2% year over year to $11.1 billion vs. estimates for $11.14 billion

• Organic sales growth: +6% year over year vs. estimates for +5.2%

• Core EPS: +1% year over year to $0.73 vs. estimates for $0.72

• Key comment: Says tariff impact is "manageable"

• Organic sales growth: +5 to +6% vs. estimates for +5.63% (previous guidance: +5% to +6%)

• Core EPS: +2% to +3% to $2.96 vs. estimates for $2.96 (previous guidance: +2% to +3%/$2.94 to $2.97)

• Programming note: Coca-Cola chairman and CEO James Quincey will be live on Yahoo Finance today at 10:30am ET. You can tune in here.

Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.

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