Why Coca-Cola Stock Popped 12% Higher Last Month

Shares of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) rose 12.1% in February 2025, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The soft drink giant published a tasty fourth-quarter earnings report on Feb. 11, followed by a crowd-pleasing dividend increase on the 20th. The earnings event provided most of the fuel for last month's price gains. Investors would have been more surprised if Coke didn't boost its quarterly payouts for the first time in forever.

Coca-Cola's recipe for Q4 success

Q4 sales rose 6.4% year over year to $11.5 billion. Your average analyst would have settled for $10.7 billion.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Coca-Cola also reports a unique metric called organic revenues. This figure is not related to the purchase of health-focused beverages by consumers but to core business sales, backing out the effects of currency exchange fluctuations, acquisitions, and divestitures. Currency trends and higher ingredient costs constituted modest headwinds in Q4. On the other hand, a large-scale refranchising of bottling operations gave Coca-Cola a revenue boost. Without these puts and takes, organic sales rose 14% year over year.

On the bottom line, adjusted earnings rose 12% to $0.55 per share. Here, the analyst consensus stopped at $0.52.

The company generated $3.2 billion of free cash flows in this quarter and paid out 64% of these cash profits as dividend checks. Calendar quirks result in two dividend payouts falling in Coca-Cola's Q4 with no dividend expenses in Q1, but it's easy enough to do the math to disregard this effect.

On that note, Coca-Cola boosted its next quarterly dividend payout from $0.485 to $0.51 per share. Payable on April 1 (right after closing the books for Q1), the new full-year payout works out to $2.04 per share. The unbroken streak of annual dividend increases started in 1962.

KO Dividend data by YCharts.

Coca-Cola investors have come to expect these reliable dividend bumps and would be sorely disappointed if they stopped coming. Master investors Warren Buffett's portfolio collected $704 million of Coca-Cola dividends in 2022, and the payouts keep growing.

No alarms and no surprises

So Coca-Cola's business is faring well as usual, more than making up for currency effects with a powerful product gallery and a world-class distribution network. The company is currently expanding its cold drink equipment by 250,000 net new stores and almost 600,000 new beverage coolers. Management sees this expansion as a key business advantage, setting Coca-Cola apart from global and local rivals with less sophisticated bottling and distribution systems.

If you're interested in adding some Coke stock to your portfolio, the shares are neither expensive nor cheap. Coca-Cola stock trades in a Goldilocks zone of 28 times trailing earnings and 6.5 times sales. The stock may not be a bargain bin deal, but you can lock in that juicy 2.9% dividend yield at a reasonable share price.

Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.

On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:

• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $300,764!*
• Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $44,730!*
• Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $524,504!*

Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.

Continue »

*Stock Advisor returns as of March 3, 2025

Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.