The Quarter in Brief
Coca-Cola reported its third quarter of 2026, the three months ended October 2, before the market opened on October 27. Net operating revenues were $13.38 billion, up 7% from $12.46 billion a year earlier. Reported earnings per share were $0.93, up 8% from $0.86. Comparable earnings per share, the company's own measure that leaves out items such as pension settlement charges, gains and losses on hedges and one-off tax effects, were $0.91, up 11% from $0.82.
Both figures were ahead of expectations: analysts had expected about $12.9 billion of revenue and comparable earnings of about $0.88 a share. What made this quarter different was where the growth came from. Global unit case volume, the number of drinks sold by Coca-Cola and its bottlers, rose 5%, against 1% a year earlier, while price/mix (the effect of prices and of the mix of products sold) added only 1%, against 6% a year earlier. Coca-Cola also raised its full-year guidance for comparable earnings per share growth to at least 11%.