Sluggish Volume Trends Affected The Coca-Cola Company (KO) in Q3

Carillon Tower Advisers, an investment management company, released its “Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund” third-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The S&P 500 Index continued its rally in the third quarter, ending the year-to-date returns at 13.7%. During this period, growth and momentum were key contributors to the market's performance. A significant portion of the market is currently tied to the single catalyst of AI deployment, which means that any weaknesses in this concept could significantly threaten the market's future strength. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its third-quarter 2025 investor letter, Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund highlighted stocks such as The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO). The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is a beverage company, manufactures and sells various nonalcoholic beverages. The one-month return of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was 6.75%, and its shares gained 13.67% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 11, 2025, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) stock closed at $71.61 per share, with a market capitalization of $308.038 billion.

Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund stated the following regarding The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:

"The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was a relative detractor in the third quarter. While second-quarter financial results exceeded analysts’ forecasts due to better pricing, we believe sluggish volume trends that decelerated as the second quarter progressed likely weighed on shares. We also attribute some of the weakness to softening sentiment for the broader beverage industry, reflecting market rotation into risk-on industries."

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. According to our database, 84 hedge fund portfolios held The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) at the end of the second quarter, compared to 87 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we covered The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) and shared the list of best defensive dividend stocks for 2025. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.