Goldman Sachs is reportedly removing Coke from its U.S. recommended list, stamping it with a market outperform.
And Coke and Pepsi were already having trouble spurring sales growth in the U.S. At Coke, North American sales in volume fell between 1% and 2% in 2008, 2% in 2009, and volume flat during the first half of this year.
If you need more evidence that the antidumping status quo is weighted heavily against import-consuming U.S. industries, consider this gem: three of the nine mineral raw materials that are the subject of the U.S. case against China in the WTO (magnesium, silicon metal, and coke) are simultaneously subject to U.S antidumping restrictions.
About 60% of Coke's revenue in the U.S. is derived from carbonated soft drinks, compared with about a quarter at PepsiCo.
More than 70% of sales at Dr Pepper Snapple, the No. 3 player, are from soda and about 90% of its revenue is from the U.S. Unlike Coke and PepsiCo, though, it hardly sells any cola, which has suffered steep declines.
In the U.S. decades of market dominance have made Coke a low-growth staple: The ten-year compound annual unit-case growth in the U.S. is only 4%.
Coke already distributes Monster in much of the U.S. and was in talks to buy the company in April, according to people familiar with the matter.
Both Coke and Pepsi tried that last year, hiking U.S. concentrate prices as much as 7%, only to watch volume growth stall as bottlers passed through the higher costs to consumers or cut back on marketing expenses.
What's more, dive operator Douglas Primus has developed a seaside resort whose first guests will be the 100-person TV crew. (No, contestants won't be able to pop over for a Coke, says Primus.) And if the U.S. program is a hit, the travel business can only benefit.
The Coke brand had market share of about 17% in the U.S. in 2009, much higher than its primary competitor Pepsi, which had less than 11% market share.
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Coke's trademark cola has to be approaching saturation in the U.S. market, where Americans swill an average of 53 gallons of carbonated beverages a year, up from 40.3 gallons in 1985 (tap water comes in a distant second at 29 gallons).
Coke's trademark cola has to be approaching saturation in the U.S. market, where Americans swill an average of 200 liters of carbonated beverages a year, up from 150 liters in 1985 (tap water comes in a distant second at 110 liters).
Coke's primary source of supply for orange juice sold in the U.S. is Florida.
PepsiCo is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing to turn around its U.S. soda business after losing market share to Coke.
Last year Coke acquired control of coconut water brand Zico and dipped its toes in U.S. dairy for the first time, buying a stake in the maker of Core Power, a workout recovery shake.
Frick made his money turning coal into coke for making steel, later hooking up with Carnegie to form what would become U.S. Steel.
Coke began testing naturally sweetened, low-calorie versions of Sprite and Fanta in some U.S. markets last summer.
It seems that people who curse the U.S. still want to take time out from politics for a Coke.
Kamholz was accused of instructing an employee, prior to a 2009 inspection by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to conceal the fact that an unreported pressure relief emitted coke oven gas directly in the air, a violation of its operating permit.
By the way, Coke's not one of our stocks, but I think there's just this big move in the U.S. multinationals helped.
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