Coca-Cola has lifted its forecast for full-year earnings after beating analyst estimates in its fiscal first quarter.
The soft drinks giant reported an 18% year-on-year increase in EPS to $0.86 in the three months to 3 April 2026. Wall Street had expected EPS to come in at $0.81 for the quarter.
Revenues rose 10% organically to $12.5bn, ahead of the expected 7.1% increase forecast by analysts. Sales growth was driven by an 8% uplift in concentrate sales and 2% growth in price/mix, Coca-Cola said.
Gains in sparkling soft drinks (2%), including Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar (13%) and water, sports, coffee and tea (5%) more than offset declines in juice, value‑added dairy and plant‑based beverages (–1%).
Unit case volumes, meanwhile, climbed 3% globally, led by increases in China, the US and India. With high inflation persisting in many markets, Coca-Cola said it was also offering smaller pack sizes to provide “compelling value and premium offerings to consumers”.
There were also six additional trading days in the quarter compared with last year.
“We’ve had a strong start to the year,” said Henrique Braun, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. “Our performance this quarter reflects our unwavering focus on staying close to the consumer, executing locally and managing complexity.”
Coca-Cola said it was now expecting to report full-year earnings per share growth of between 8%-9%, up from the 7%-8% for which it had previously guided.
Full-year revenue growth guidance remained unchanged at between 4% and 5%.
Shares in Coca-Cola climbed around 2% in pre-market trading.
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