CocaCola (KO) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer MNST or KO?

Monster Beverage presently has a consensus price target of $65.10, suggesting a potential upside of 4.79%. CocaCola has a consensus price target of $77.21, suggesting a potential upside of 12.22%. Given CocaCola's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly 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)	8 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.45
CocaCola	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.06

Is MNST or KO more profitable?

CocaCola has a net margin of 25.89% compared to Monster Beverage's net margin of 20.54%. CocaCola's return on equity of 44.91% beat Monster Beverage's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Monster Beverage	20.54%	27.46%	21.35%
CocaCola	25.89%	44.91%	12.23%

Does the media favor MNST or KO?

In the previous week, CocaCola had 56 more articles in the media than Monster Beverage. MarketBeat recorded 84 mentions for CocaCola and 28 mentions for Monster Beverage. CocaCola's average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat Monster Beverage's score of 1.31 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	20 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
CocaCola	66 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders 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 insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of CocaCola shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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	8.10	$1.51B	$1.61	38.58
CocaCola	$47.06B	6.29	$10.63B	$2.82	24.40

Which has more volatility & risk, MNST or KO?

Monster Beverage has a beta of 0.55, suggesting that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CocaCola has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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