Coca-Cola Co. shares surged to open at a record high Tuesday after its latest earnings got another boost from drinks with less sugar, more than offsetting the company’s sluggish home market.
It also updated its forecast for the full year, saying it now expects to post organic revenue growth of 5%, up from the 4% target it had issued earlier. The soda giant rose as much as 4.6% as of 9:31 a.m. in New York. That’s the biggest intraday gain in six years.
Coca-Cola upped its revenue expectations for the year as new lines of healthier drinks and coffees win over fans.
The world’s largest beverages company posted second quarter earnings of US$2.61 billion, or 61 US cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 63 US cents per share, which is a penny better than expected, according to analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue was US$10 billion, also beating expectations.
Shares of Coca-Cola Co gained by 2 percent before the opening bell Tuesday after the Atlanta company projected organic revenue growth of 5 percent for the year. That’s equal to its growth in 2018, and better than the 4 percent organic revenue growth the company initially forecast in January.
Coke said it still expects full year earnings growth between 1 percent and negative 1 percent.
Coke said its first energy drink, Coca-Cola Energy, launched in Europe during the quarter and saw some sales success. The company plans to expand sales of the new product to 20 markets by the end of this year.
Coke’s acquisition of British coffee shop chain Costa Coffee — which was completed earlier this year — is also paying off. New drinks like Coca-Cola Plus Coffee and chilled, low-sugar Costa Coffee beverages saw growth in the April-June period.
Sales of Coke’s namesake soft drinks increased by 3 percent in the quarter, thanks to double-digit growth of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and new products like Coca-Cola Orange Vanilla.
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