Coca-Cola profit beats Street by a penny

Coca-Cola Co reported a quarterly profit that slightly beat Wall Street estimates.

Coca-Cola Co reported a quarterly profit on Tuesday that slightly beat Wall Street estimates,as sales increased worldwide.

The world’s largest soft-drink maker,whose brands range from Sprite to Minute Maid and Powerade,said net income was $2.22 billion,or 95 cents per share in the third quarter,up from $2.06 billion,or 88 cents per share,a year earlier.

Excluding items,earnings were $1.03 per share. On that basis,analysts on average were expecting $1.02 per share,according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue jumped 45 percent to $12.25 billion,boosted by last year’s acquisition of its North American bottling operations,price increases and a 5 percentage-point currency benefit. Analysts expected revenue of $12.01 billion.

Worldwide volume rose 5 percent. Volume in North America also rose 5 percent,helped by the addition of new cross-licensed brands such as Dr Pepper. Excluding those brands,North American volume rose 1 percent.

Volume increased 7 percent in Latin America,2 percent in Europe,7 percent in the Eurasia and Africa segment and 6 percent in the Pacific region.

Coca-Cola shares fell 20 cents to $66.80 in premarket trading.