Inflationary pressures are fizzing out, says Coca-Cola (KO) CEO James Quincey.
"Our pricing levels and the input inflation cost levels are normalizing as we see through the year," he told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday after the company posted Q1 earnings.
Coca-Cola reported $11.3 billion in revenue, beating Wall Street estimates of $10.96 billion, while its earnings per share of $0.72 also topped expectations of $0.70.
But it only clocked unit case volume growth of 1% year over year, as prices increased 13% across its segments.
The company updated its organic revenue growth outlook to 8% to 9%, partially due to anticipated good performance and partially due to "intense inflation" in a select number of countries such as Argentina and Nigeria.
"There are a set of countries that account for a relatively small percentage of the business in volume terms, that because of the elevated levels of inflation, they drive up both the currency and neutral revenue," Quincey explained.
Beyond that, Coca-Cola is seeing inflation decelerate, including commodity costs like corn syrup, sugar, and aluminum cans.
Coke's stock is down 3% in the past year, while rival PepsiCo's (PEP) shares have dropped more than 9%.
While goods are still much more expensive than pre-pandemic, most consumers have been able to cope with the costs.
"The US consumers are doing better in the sense that wages are rising relative to inflation and purchasing power is kind of stabilizing out," Quincey said. "The lower-income consumers are under a little more pressure, looking more clearly for value."
Per JPMorgan analyst Andrea Teixeira, the lower-income consumer makes up about 20% of Coca-Cola's US volumes.
Americans are still willing to spend on experiences, such as going out to dinner, movies, and theaters, though some are shifting slightly to entertaining at home.
The pullback is "partly from ... lower-income consumers," but it's not as big of a discrepancy as seen during COVID, said Quincey.
Product innovation in its namesake Coca-Cola brand, including different package sizes like mini cans in the US, helped drive growth.
Here's what Coca-Cola reported, compared to Wall Street estimates, per Bloomberg consensus data:
Revenue: $11.3 billion versus $10.96 billion
Adjusted earnings per share: $0.72 versus $0.70
Unit case volume growth: 1% versus 1.27%
Analysts expect the good times to keep rolling in for the beverage giant.
"Margin benefits are being reinvested appropriately (SG&A +74bp), a positive sign that outperformance can continue," Jefferies analyst Kaumil Gajrawala wrote in a note to clients.
"Performance was ahead of our bullish expectations ... as a top pick into the quarter, and we think the stronger than anticipated start of the year from a top and gross margin perspective for 2024 should give investors more confidence on momentum to persist, and grow more conviction of Coca-Cola as a earnings compounder," Teixeira wrote.
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Brooke DiPalma is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at [email protected].
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