The Steady Pepsi Delivers Another Quarterly Surprise And Raises Guidance

After beating second quarter revenue and earnings estimates, Pepsi Co Inc (NASDAQ: PEP) raised its full-year outlook on Thursday with shares rising more than 2% in premarket trading. This was the second surprise this year for the ‘business as usual’ beverage giant and the Coca Cola Company (NYSE: KO) rival, both being valuable members of the S&P 500 and holdings of its trailing ETF index, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY).

Second Quarter Highlights

For the second quarter, net sales rose 10.4% to $22.32 billion, topping the expected $21.73 billion, according to Refinitiv. When the impact of acquisitions and divestitures is excluded, organic revenue expanded 13%.

Net income attributable to the company rose from $1.43 billion made during last year’s comparable quarter to $2.75 billion, or $1.99 per share with adjusted earnings per share amounting to $2.09, topping the expected $1.96.

Volume Was Hurt By Higher Prices

Higher prices for Pepsi snacks and drinks resulted in a volume drop of 3%, with beverages falling 1%, when pricing and currency fluctuations are excluded. As for North America, Quaker Foods volume dropped 5%, and beverage volume contracted 4.5% but Frito-Lay told a different story by experiencing 1% growth owed to new innovations in the division.

Improved 2023 Guidance

Coca Cola rival materially hiked its full-year outlook, as to suggest the momentum in the business will be sustained. Pepsi rose its revenue forecast from prior 8% organic growth to 10%. Constant currency earnings outlook was also hiked to 12% growth from its previous expectation of 9%.

PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta underlined that these results are proof to the beverage company’s successfully executing its Pepsi+ strategic-end-to-end initiative to become faster, stronger and better organized.

Coca Cola Also Sees A Strong Long-term Perspective

Even the world’s largest beverage is company is squeezed by the sluggish macroeconomic environment. But Coca Cola did a great job at rebounding from the pandemic, improving its profitability and returning to growth. According to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, Coca Cola shares dipped 5% in the first half of the year. But Coca Cola owes its success to quickly taking adequate action in times of crisis. During the pandemic, it quickly adapted its operational structure and slashed its brand collection to focus on top performers, resulting in stabilized profits and rising sales. In simple words, Coca-Cola keeps on demonstrating why it's a top blue chip stock but both Pepsi and Coca Cola are not having it easy with persistently high inflation that is hurting their consumers and a gloomy market dynamic.

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