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Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc.

Data period: Annual Quarterly Graham uses annual
NASDAQ · Consumer Defensive
Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc.
COKE · Beverages - Non-Alcoholic
$181.54
▼ -2.1 (-1.14%)
Cached · 10 min
Overall Grade
C
Defensive
C
Enterprising
Profitability
B
Gross Profit Margin 39.4%
Operating Margin 12.9%
Net Income Margin 6.0%
Fin. Health
D
Years to Pay Off Debt 24.7 yrs
Working Capital vs Long-Term Debt -$2.3B
Working Capital $285M
Valuation
D
Price-to-Book N/A (neg. equity)
Cash Flow
C
Free Cash Flow $142M
CapEx % of Net Income 56.6%
Owner Earnings $232M
About Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc.
Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes nonalcoholic beverages in the United States. It operates through Nonalcoholic Beverages and All Other segments. The company offers sparkling beverages; still beverages, including energy products; noncarbonated beverages, such as bottled water, ready to drink coffee and tea, enhanced water, juices, and sports drinks. It also sells its products to other Coca-Cola bottlers; and post-mix products that are dispensed through equipment, which mix the fountain syrups with carbonated or still water enabling fountain retailers to sell finished products to consumers in cups or glasses. In addition, the company manufactures and distributes various other beverage brands comprising Dr Pepper and Monster Energy. It sells and distributes its products directly to customers, including grocery stores, mass merchandise stores, club stores, convenience stores and drug stores, restaurants, schools, amusement parks, and recreational facilities, as well as vending machine outlets. The company was formerly known as Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated and changed its name to Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. in January 2019. Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Metric Explanations
What each dimension measures and where the thresholds come from.
Gross Profit Margin
Revenue minus cost of goods sold. Graham's ≥40% threshold identifies businesses with durable pricing power. Note: software and financial companies naturally exceed this; retailers and manufacturers rarely reach it due to their cost structures.
Operating Margin
Profit after operating costs before interest and taxes. A consistent ≥15% operating margin signals a business with real competitive advantages. Capital-intensive industries (airlines, auto, commodities) rarely hit this threshold due to their structural cost base — compare within industry for context.
Net Income Margin
Bottom-line profit as a percentage of revenue. The ≥20% target reflects Buffett's preference for highly profitable businesses. Financial engineering (buybacks, tax optimisation) can inflate this temporarily — look for consistency across multiple years rather than a single strong result.
Years to Pay Off Debt
Total Debt ÷ Net Income. Lower = stronger balance sheet. Important caveat: utilities, telecoms, REITs, and infrastructure companies carry large structural debt by design — their bond-like cash flows service it comfortably at ratios that would alarm Graham. Compare within sector.
Working Capital vs Long-Term Debt
Working Capital minus Long-Term Debt. Negative results are common and expected in capital-return-focused businesses like Apple, Domino's, and McDonald's — where aggressive buybacks and dividends intentionally reduce book equity. This does not indicate financial distress in high-FCF businesses.
Working Capital
Current Assets minus Current Liabilities. Negative working capital can be a deliberate efficiency strategy in businesses that collect cash before paying suppliers (retailers, fast food franchises, subscription businesses). Assess alongside free cash flow generation for full context.
Price-to-Book
Negative book value means total liabilities exceed total assets on the balance sheet. Two very different causes: (1) Heavy buybacks and dividends in highly profitable companies (Apple, McDonald's, Domino's) — equity deliberately reduced, not a warning sign. (2) Accumulated losses in unprofitable companies (Peloton, WeWork) — a genuine red flag. Check profitability and free cash flow to distinguish between the two. P/B cannot be scored meaningfully here.
Free Cash Flow
Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures. Buffett's most important metric — cash a business actually generates for its owners after maintaining and growing its asset base. Consistently positive FCF is one of the strongest indicators of a durable, well-run business regardless of accounting profits.
CapEx % of Net Income
Capital expenditure as a share of net income. Low CapEx signals a capital-light business that doesn't need heavy reinvestment to sustain earnings — Buffett's ideal. High CapEx is structurally necessary in manufacturing, airlines, telecoms, and semiconductors. For these industries, a high reading reflects the business model, not poor management.
Owner Earnings
Net Income + Depreciation & Amortisation − Capital Expenditures. Buffett's preferred measure of a company's true annual earning power — what could theoretically be distributed to owners without impairing the business. More reliable than reported EPS because it accounts for the capital cost of maintaining the business.
Market Cap $12.1B
Enterprise Value $2.8B
P/E (TTM) 24.87
Dividend Yield 0.54%
Exchange NASDAQ
Gross Profit 39.4%
Operating Margin 12.9%
Net Margin 6.0%
Sector Consumer Defensive
Industry Beverages - Non-Alcoholic
Employees 15000
Country United States
📖
Full Graham Analysis

Mr. Market is currently offering Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. at $181.54.

The business passes only 2 of 7 of Graham's defensive criteria — well below his required standard.

Negative NCAV — liabilities exceed current assets. Common in capital-return businesses (buybacks, debt-funded dividends) and capital-intensive industries. Not automatically a warning sign..

Conclusion: By Graham's standards, this stock is speculative at its current price. The intelligent investor would look elsewhere or wait.

Showing Key Metrics
Income Highlights
Metric Q1 2026 Q4 2025 Q4 2024
Gross Profit % 39.4% 39.6% N/A
Operating Margin % 12.9% 12.7% N/A
Net Income % 6.0% 7.2% N/A
Diluted EPS 1.67 1.84 N/A
Balance Sheet Highlights
Metric Q1 2026 Q4 2025 Q4 2024
Total Assets $4.4B $4.3B N/A
Total Debt $2.8B $2.9B N/A
Working Capital $285M $298M N/A
Years to Pay Debt 24.68 21.18 N/A
Cash Flow Highlights
Metric Q1 2026 Q4 2025 Q4 2024
Free Cash Flow $142M $107M N/A
Owner Earnings $232M $295M N/A
CapEx % of Net Income 56.6% 74.6% N/A
📊 Quarterly mode — Graham Fair Value & 7 Criteria require annual data. Switch to Annual for full analysis.
Quarter vs Same Quarter Last Year
YoY strips seasonality
Revenue Growth (YoY)
Prior year: $1.6B ▲ $1.8B +16.9%
Revenue growth vs same quarter last year strips seasonality. Consistent double-digit growth is a Buffett hallmark.
Gross Margin
Prior year: 39.7% ▲ 39.4% -0.3pp
Buffett: consistent gross margin above 40% signals durable pricing power and competitive moat.
Operating Margin
Prior year: 15.0% ▲ 12.9% -2.2pp
Graham: operating margin reflects true business economics before financing. Trend matters as much as level.
Net Margin
Prior year: 6.6% ▲ 6.0% -0.5pp
Net margin can be distorted by one-time items, tax timing, or interest costs — compare to operating margin for signal quality.
Quarterly Health Checks
3 Graham/Buffett criteria that are valid and reliable on quarterly data
✅ Adequate Size
Graham required scale for resilience. Quarterly revenue × 4 gives an annualised proxy.
$1.8B/qtr (≈$7.4B ann.)
vs > $1.5B annualised revenue
❌ Financial Condition
Current assets vs current liabilities — a real-time liquidity snapshot. Valid and reliable on quarterly data.
1.23x current ratio
vs ≥ 2.0x
✅ Free Cash Flow
Buffett's most important single metric. A positive FCF quarter means the business generated real cash for owners after maintaining its asset base.
$142M
vs Positive
Operating Cash Flow
$205M
Latest quarter · Buffett's cash reality check
ROIC
5.9%
Based on latest annual operating income
Return on Invested Capital — Buffett's preferred measure for asset-light businesses. ROIC > 15% consistently signals a durable competitive advantage (moat). More meaningful than P/B for software, pharma, and consumer brand companies where most value is intangible and off-balance-sheet.
Market Cap / Net Assets
⚠ Negative Net Assets
Net Assets: -$643M
⚠ Negative Net Assets — total liabilities exceed total assets on paper. This is common in companies that aggressively return capital via buybacks and dividends (Apple, McDonald's, Domino's). It does not indicate insolvency if the business generates strong, consistent free cash flow. Focus on FCF and earnings power rather than balance sheet book value for these companies.
⚠️ Revenue grew vs prior year but operating margin contracted. Possible explanations: deliberate investment in growth (hiring, marketing, R&D), input cost inflation, or pricing pressure from competition. Buffett distinguishes between spending that builds moat vs. spending that doesn't.
Peers & Industry
No auto-detected peers for Beverages - Non-Alcoholic. You can manually compare COKE against any stock using the Compare tool.
"The management of a business is its most important single factor — more important than market position, patents, or financial structure."
— Benjamin Graham
Capital Allocation & Alignment
Insider Ownership
0.00%
Low — management has little skin in the game
Return on Assets (ROA)
2.5%
Fair — average asset utilization
Share Buybacks (Latest Year)
$2.6B
Management is returning capital to shareholders via buybacks
Debt Trend YoY
-5.3% YoY
Debt is declining — management is deleveraging
Leadership Team
Frank Harrison III
Chairman & CEO
Age 70
Pay: $14,691,706
13.170% of net income
David Michael Katz
President, COO & Director
Age 56
Pay: $5,877,823
5.269% of net income
Matthew Joseph Blickley
CFO & Chief Accounting Officer
Age 43
Pay: $1,607,860
1.441% of net income
Robert Chambless
Executive VP and Senior Advisor to the Chairman & CEO
Age 59
Pay: $2,757,524
2.472% of net income
Joshua Dorminy
Executive VP and Assistant to the Chairman & CEO
Age 47
Top Institutional Holders
Institution % Owned Shares
Blackrock Inc. 9.28% 5,245,087
Vanguard Portfolio Management LLC 5.24% 2,959,084
Vanguard Capital Management LLC 4.50% 2,541,203
First Trust Advisors LP 3.57% 2,017,368
Boston Partners 3.56% 2,010,112
State Street Corporation 3.09% 1,744,164
Geode Capital Management, LLC 2.84% 1,607,659
Diversified Trust Company 2.59% 1,463,682
Risk Analysis
Beta (Market Risk)
0.55
Low volatility — more stable than the market
Short Interest
7.1% of float
Moderate short interest
Debt-to-Equity
1.98x
Moderate leverage
Current Ratio
1.24x
Adequate liquidity
52-Week Price Range
Low: $105.98 Current: $181.54 High: $219.65
Currently at 66% of 52-week range

Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. (COKE) fundamental analysis — Overall grade C based on profitability, financial health, valuation and cash flow. Graham's Fair Value: N/A. Gross profit margin: 39.4%. Operating margin: 12.9%. Net margin: 6.0%. Market cap: $12.1B. Sector: Consumer Defensive. Industry: Beverages - Non-Alcoholic. Analysis powered by 360investing — free fundamental stock analysis based on Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett principles.

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