The Atlanta-based group sees revenue edging towards $48bn in 2025, up from $47bn last year and less than $37bn in 2021.
The gain is modest - more or less in line with inflation - although Coca-Cola appears to have put behind it a painful spell that saw six consecutive years of revenue falling during the previous 2010-2020 cycle.
In December, the Atlanta group announced the appointment of Henrique Braun as CEO. As a company veteran with a purely operational profile, he will most likely focus on delivering cost savings.
This would mark a possible change of direction after the tenure of British James Quincey, who pursued a diversification strategy that some will judge to have delivered relative success, notwithstanding a misfire with Costa Coffee.
Indeed, under Quincey, who took over in 2017, profit before tax and special items rose by half, while dividend distributions to shareholders increased by 40%.
A venerable S&P 500 ‘blue chip', with Berkshire Hathaway one of its leading shareholders, over the past decade Coca-Cola has commanded an average valuation of 25x earnings. It is still trading at around that multiple.
In another vein, the group has not rid itself of its tax dispute with the IRS, over transfer pricing and the effective geographic location of its intellectual property.
The case could cost the company as much as $16bn to $18bn - much more than a year's profits - if it were to lose its appeal. It could also send a shiver through other US multinationals that rely on tax optimization.
Judging by the share price's recent performance, investors do not seem to harbor any major concern on that front. Unless Coca-Cola has benefited from a major rotation out of technology stocks - severely jostled by AI - and into names seen as more defensive...
