Volume and price both rise! Coca-Cola Company (KO.US) Q3 revenue beats expectations, raises full-year profit guidance

Coca-Cola Company (KO.US) released its Q3 2026 results before the U.S. market opened on October 27 (the three months ended October 2): net revenue of RMB13.4 billion, up 7% year-over-year, beating the LSEG-surveyed analyst consensus of RMB12.92 billion by RMB470 million; comparable EPS (non-GAAP) of $0.91, up 11% year-over-year, above the consensus of $0.88. Meanwhile, the full-year comparable EPS growth guidance was raised to at least 11%. Q3 operating profit rose 12% year-over-year, with the GAAP operating margin rising to 33.4% from 32.0% a year earlier. Organic sales grew 7%, global unit case volume rose 5%, and price/mix grew 1%; concentrate sales grew 7%, 2 percentage points above unit case volume growth, which the company said reflects shipment timing rather than a change in end demand. The real increment is in the guidance: full-year organic revenue was changed from "approximately 5% growth" to "at least 5% growth"; comparable EPS growth was raised from "9% to 10%" to "at least 11%" (including about 3 percentage points of FX tailwind and about 1 percentage point of M&A/divestiture headwind); comparable neutral-currency EPS growth (excluding M&A/divestitures) was raised from "7% to 8%" to "at least 9%"; free cash flow guidance was raised from approximately RMB12.4 billion to at least RMB13 billion, of which operating cash flow rose from approximately RMB14.6 billion to at least RMB15.2 billion. By region, Q3 net revenue in Latin America grew 25%, North America grew only 3%, and Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia-Pacific each grew 4%. CEO Henrique Braun said in the press release that the quarterly results reflect the continued momentum of the company's system, giving management confidence in the updated full-year guidance. As of press time, the company's premarket shares edged higher after the earnings release; on the previous trading day (October 26), the company closed at $93.81, up about 32% year-to-date, outperforming the S&P 500 over the same period by about 12 percentage points, with a market capitalization of approximately RMB398 billion.