Coke Beats 2Q Views as Profit Jumps

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO) said Wednesday that profit jumped 20% in its second quarter as the beverage giant logged volume growth.

Shares gained 1.4% in premarket trading as results topped expectations.

The maker of Sprite soda and Dasani water, along with its namesake cola, derives most of its profit from abroad, making it vulnerable to foreign-exchange swings when it translates results back into U.S. dollars. Coke has forecast that weakening foreign currencies would represent headwinds of 6 percentage points on revenue and 10 percentage points on operating income for the year. It also has said that it expects to fall short of its long-term growth targets for a third straight year. Meanwhile, the company continues to struggle with tepid volume growth as consumers scale back on soda. Coke has worked to offset the decline by raising prices, especially in the U.S., where the company also is pushing smaller packages like 7.5-ounce "mini cans'" that cost consumers more on a per-ounce basis.

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In the latest quarter, Coke said world-wide soda volumes grew 1%, while noncarbonated beverage volumes grew 5%.

Overall, for the period ended July 3, the company posted earnings of $3.11 billion, or 71 cents a share, up from $2.6 billion, or 58 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding special items, per-share earnings were 63 cents.

Revenue fell 3.3% to $12.2 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected 60 cents a share in earnings and $12.1 billion in revenue.

Organic revenue, which strips out foreign currency impacts, grew 4%.