Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) on Thursday reported quarterly earnings that were in line with analysts' expectations for the year, but fell short in their expected earnings for 2019.
The company expects that in 2019 its earnings per share could fall or rise by 1%. Wall Street was forecasting Coke to earn $2.23 per share in 2019. The beverage giant earned $2.08 per share in 2018.
The Atlanta-based company last year raised its beverage prices as it battled higher import and transportation costs. Currency headwinds impacted fourth-quarter earnings per share by 10%.
Earnings per share came in for the fiscal year at 43 cents in line with what was expected. Revenue was $7.06 billion vs. $7.04 billion expected.
Net sales dropped 6% to $7.06 billion, topping expectations of $7.04 billion. KO attributed the revenue decline to the impact of currency and re-franchising its bottling operations.
Sales of its sparkling soft drinks dropped 1% during the fourth quarter, despite its popular Coca-Cola Zero Sugar once again seeing double-digit growth.
Challenging economic conditions in Argentina, Central America and other emerging markets negatively impacted those sales, the company said.
The soda giant reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $870 million, or 20 cents per share, up from a loss of $2.75 billion, or 65 cents per share, a year earlier. Coke said that freight costs negatively impacted its earnings this quarter.
Shares slumped $3.40, or 6.8%, to $46.40
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