Shares in The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) fizzed a little higher before the opening bell on Friday after the drinks giant beat Wall Street expectations with its fourth quarter earnings.
In the three months ended December 31, the Fanta and Minute Maid maker reported adjusted earnings of 39 cents per share, marginally ahead of the 38 cents analysts had been looking for.
That was on net sales of US$7.5bn - a 20% fall compared to the year-ago quarter which it attributed to headwinds from its efforts to re-franchise its bottling operations, but ahead of forecasts of US$7.4bn.
Organic sales
That beat was driven by strong organic sales - which exclude the impact of foreign exchange rates and other changes - which grew 6% in the quarter. Wall Street number crunchers had pencilled in growth of 3.7%.
Total unit case volume - the amount of drink actually sold - was flat, as it was in the third quarter.
Coca Cola offset the flat volume by hiking its prices and selling more of its expensive, higher margin products.
Like its major rival PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ:PEP), Coca Cola has been struggling with sluggish demand for its drinks in North America where consumer tastes are shifting away from its core beverages.
To try to counter that, the group has embarked on an innovation push and recently launched four new flavours of Diet Coke as it looks to ‘re-energize and modernize’ its popular brand.
The company added that it took a US$3.6bn one-time charge from the new tax changes in the US.
“I am pleased with our accomplishments and results in 2017," said President and chief executive James Quincey.
"We achieved or exceeded our full year guidance while driving significant change as we continued to transform into a total beverage company. While there is still much work to do, I am encouraged by our momentum as we head into 2018.”
Coca Cola shares rose 2.8% to US$46.08 in premarket trading.