Coca-Cola's Story: Can Organic Growth Stay Resilient in 2026?

The Coca-Cola Company KO enters the final quarter of 2025 with organic growth momentum that underscores the strength of its all-weather strategy. In the third quarter of 2025, the company delivered organic revenue growth at the high end of its long-term model, supported by steady volume gains, effective price/mix execution and disciplined cost management.

Despite a dynamic macro backdrop, marked by inflation fatigue, uneven consumer spending and geopolitical uncertainty, Coca-Cola continued to gain value share for the 18th consecutive quarter, reinforcing its competitive positioning across markets.

Looking to 2026, management’s confidence rests on several forward-leaning levers. Pricing intensity from inflationary markets is moderating, allowing Coca-Cola to rebalance toward affordability and volume while leaning into premiumization where demand supports it. This flexibility is central to sustaining organic growth as consumer elasticity evolves. Further, ongoing productivity initiatives, from supply-chain efficiencies to marketing effectiveness, are expected to support margin expansion even as the company continues to invest behind brands and innovation.

Coca-Cola’s diversified footprint remains a key driver. While parts of the Asia Pacific faced softer demand due to weather and macro pressures, the company still gained value share and grew revenues and profit, highlighting execution strength. Meanwhile, emerging markets, such as Latin America and Africa, continue to offer long-term growth, supported by targeted affordability strategies and local brand relevance.

As Coca-Cola moves into 2026, organic growth resilience will hinge on its ability to balance pricing, volume and mix while navigating currency volatility and shifting consumer behavior. The underlying signals from 2025 suggest the foundation remains solid, with execution and system alignment likely determining how durable that growth proves to be.

Can PEP & KDP Match Coca-Cola’s Organic Growth in 2026?

As Coca-Cola enters 2026 with resilient organic momentum, the key question is whether rivals PepsiCo Inc. PEP and Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. KDP can keep pace amid shifting consumer demand and intensifying competition.

PepsiCo’s organic growth outlook into 2026 appears resilient, supported by steady momentum in beverages, a consistently strong international business and portfolio reshaping initiatives. Management highlighted accelerating beverage trends, expanding permissible and functional offerings, and improved performance in convenient foods. Cost discipline, sharper price-pack architecture and innovation-led growth are expected to offset supply-chain pressures, positioning PepsiCo to sustain organic revenue growth despite a cautious consumer environment.

Keurig Dr Pepper’s organic growth outlook for 2026 remains steady, supported by resilient U.S. refreshment beverage demand and improving trends in coffee. Management emphasized balanced price/mix and volume performance, productivity-led margin expansion and disciplined marketing investments. While at-home coffee remains pressured by cautious consumers, strength in cold beverages, innovation and pack-price architecture positions KDP to sustain organic growth in a moderating macro environment.

The Zacks Rundown for Coca-Cola

KO shares have risen 5.3% in the three months compared with the industry’s growth of 7.2%.

From a valuation standpoint, Coca-Cola is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71X, significantly higher than the industry’s 18.15X.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KO’s 2025 and 2026 earnings implies year-over-year growth of 3.5% and 8%, respectively. Earnings estimates for 2025 and 2026 have been unchanged in the past 30 days.

Coca-Cola currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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