Coca-Cola Q1 earnings: ‘Inflation, geopolitical tensions persisted,’ CEO says

Yahoo Finance’s Allie Canal joins the Live show to break down key takeaways from Coca-Cola’s first-quarter earnings report.

Video transcript

BRAD SMITH: This morning, we are watching soda or pop. Wherever you're in the country, you may be pronouncing it differently, but Coca-Cola is how we pronounce it here on set. Rising on a first-quarter earnings beat driven by price hikes despite consumer belt tightening with surging growth in Asia as well.

Here with more, we've got Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal. Allie, you've been listening in to the call here.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah, I was able to listen in on this call this morning. I would say the vibes were good, good vibes overall. They were high, especially compared to some of these other calls that we've listened to.

And a big factor for that was the fact that we did see this earnings beat, beat on both the top and bottom lines, double-digit organic revenue growth, which is an important metric for these types of companies. And that was largely driven by price increases offsetting inflation.

Now, pricing overall, that was a key takeaway and emphasis from this call as pricing, it doesn't seem to be denting demand, especially in emerging markets. If we look at unit case volume overall, they were up 10% in Asia-Pacific region, 5% in Latin America, although North America we do see that flat with Europe, the Middle East, and Africa region down 3%. So the global story, the global opportunity a big one here for Coke.

Another key takeaway for me centered on the wide range of brands within that portfolio from juices to water to soda and, again, the global opportunity to capitalize on these brands despite various economic headwinds. And on that front, Coke executives did say there's certainly uncertainty about the operating environment ahead but that there are signs that some of those pressures are abating.

So here's a bit more of what CEO James Quincey had to say.

JAMES QUINCEY: In the first quarter, pandemic restrictions in parts of the world relaxed, and many supply-chain pressures abated. At the same time, inflation and geopolitical tensions persisted, and new concerns emerged around the stability in the banking sector and the magnitude of the potential squeeze on consumers.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: So a cautiously optimistic tone there. There are uncertainties, but Coke really reiterating that they're at a point that they can pivot pretty easily to adjust for that and make up ground on that front.