Coca-Cola (KO) Competitors

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, media sentiment, dividends, valuation, profitability and community ranking.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PEP or KO?

Coca-Cola received 96 more outperform votes than PepsiCo when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.28% of users gave Coca-Cola an outperform vote while only 67.15% of users gave PepsiCo an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
PepsiCo	Outperform Votes 1120 67.15%	Underperform Votes 548 32.85%
Coca-Cola	Outperform Votes 1216 68.28%	Underperform Votes 565 31.72%

Do analysts prefer PEP or KO?

PepsiCo presently has a consensus target price of $160.69, indicating a potential upside of 24.24%. Coca-Cola has a consensus target price of $75.81, indicating a potential upside of 5.57%. Given PepsiCo's higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe PepsiCo is more favorable than Coca-Cola.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PepsiCo	1 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.16
Coca-Cola	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.05

Does the media refer more to PEP or KO?

In the previous week, PepsiCo had 7 more articles in the media than Coca-Cola. MarketBeat recorded 72 mentions for PepsiCo and 65 mentions for Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola's average media sentiment score of 1.08 beat PepsiCo's score of 0.92 indicating that Coca-Cola is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
PepsiCo	38 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	22 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Coca-Cola	38 Very Positive mention(s)	12 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals believe in PEP or KO?

73.1% of PepsiCo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.3% of Coca-Cola shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of PepsiCo shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Coca-Cola shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, PEP or KO?

PepsiCo has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Coca-Cola has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, PEP or KO?

Coca-Cola has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
PepsiCo	$91.52B	1.94	$9.58B	$6.80	19.02
Coca-Cola	$46.89B	6.59	$10.63B	$2.50	28.72

Is PEP or KO more profitable?

Coca-Cola has a net margin of 22.59% compared to PepsiCo's net margin of 10.43%. PepsiCo's return on equity of 58.87% beat Coca-Cola's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PepsiCo	10.43%	58.87%	11.28%
Coca-Cola	22.59%	45.37%	12.24%

Is PEP or KO a better dividend stock?

PepsiCo pays an annual dividend of $5.69 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Coca-Cola pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. PepsiCo pays out 83.7% 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 pays out 81.6% 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 has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years and Coca-Cola has increased its dividend for 64 consecutive years.

Summary

Coca-Cola beats PepsiCo on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.