CocaCola (KO) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate KO or MNST?

CocaCola presently has a consensus price target of $77.21, indicating a potential upside of 11.90%. Monster Beverage has a consensus price target of $61.91, indicating a potential upside of 4.87%. Given CocaCola's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe CocaCola is more favorable than Monster Beverage.

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

Is KO or MNST more profitable?

CocaCola has a net margin of 25.89% compared to Monster Beverage's net margin of 20.27%. CocaCola's return on equity of 44.91% beat Monster Beverage's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CocaCola	25.89%	44.91%	12.23%
Monster Beverage	20.27%	27.46%	20.66%

Which has better earnings and valuation, KO or MNST?

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
CocaCola	$47.06B	6.31	$10.63B	$2.82	24.47
Monster Beverage	$7.49B	7.68	$1.51B	$1.52	38.84

Which has more risk and volatility, KO or MNST?

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

Does the media prefer KO or MNST?

In the previous week, CocaCola had 39 more articles in the media than Monster Beverage. MarketBeat recorded 60 mentions for CocaCola and 21 mentions for Monster Beverage. Monster Beverage's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat CocaCola's score of 1.26 indicating that Monster Beverage is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
CocaCola	44 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Monster Beverage	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals believe in KO or MNST?

70.3% of CocaCola shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.4% of Monster Beverage shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of CocaCola shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.8% of Monster Beverage shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

CocaCola beats Monster Beverage on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.