CocaCola (KO) Competitors

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) and CocaCola (NYSE:KO) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment and valuation.

Do analysts recommend MNST or KO?

Monster Beverage currently has a consensus price target of $61.87, indicating a potential upside of 4.97%. CocaCola has a consensus price target of $76.71, indicating a potential upside of 10.64%. Given CocaCola's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe CocaCola is more favorable than Monster Beverage.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Monster Beverage	2 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.46
CocaCola	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.06

Does the media prefer MNST or KO?

In the previous week, CocaCola had 46 more articles in the media than Monster Beverage. MarketBeat recorded 69 mentions for CocaCola and 23 mentions for Monster Beverage. CocaCola's average media sentiment score of 1.29 beat Monster Beverage's score of 0.80 indicating that CocaCola is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Monster Beverage	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
CocaCola	53 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, MNST or KO?

Monster Beverage has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CocaCola has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, MNST or KO?

CocaCola has higher revenue and earnings than Monster Beverage. CocaCola is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Monster Beverage, 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
Monster Beverage	$7.49B	7.67	$1.51B	$1.52	38.78
CocaCola	$47.06B	6.34	$10.63B	$2.50	27.73

Is MNST or KO more profitable?

CocaCola has a net margin of 23.00% compared to Monster Beverage's net margin of 20.27%. CocaCola's return on equity of 45.49% beat Monster Beverage's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Monster Beverage	20.27%	27.46%	20.66%
CocaCola	23.00%	45.49%	12.18%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of MNST or KO?

72.4% of Monster Beverage shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.3% of CocaCola shares are held by institutional investors. 7.8% of Monster Beverage shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of CocaCola shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

CocaCola beats Monster Beverage on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.