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Coke 1Q edges estimates
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April 18, 2001: 2:48 p.m. ET
But soft-drink maker cuts growth outlook, citing slow economy
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Coca-Cola Co. posted sharply improved first-quarter earnings Wednesday as it beat Wall Street forecasts for the period, but lowered key growth targets for 2001 due to tougher economic conditions.
The company also said Wednesday it expected future price increases for the concentrate it shipped to bottlers would be in the 1-2 percent range.
Coke (KO: up $0.99 to $46.69, Research, Estimates) also said it expects North American market volume to grow in the plus-3-percent range in 2001 and annually on a long-term basis.
"What we're looking at is a balance between pricing and volume," Coke's Chief Financial Officer Gary Fayard told analysts in a conference call following the earnings release.
The world's largest soft drink company earned $863 million, or 35 cents a share, up from 22 cents a share before one-time charges in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call forecast earnings per share of 33 cents for the period.
Coke, facing increased competition from archrival PepsiCo Inc. (PEP: Research, Estimates) in North America, said economic conditions had forced it to cut its estimate for unit case volume, or sales, growth for 2001 to a range of 5 to 6 percent from a previous target of 6 to 7 percent. Still, Coke said it is comfortable with current earnings estimates for 2001.
In the first quarter of 2001, Coke's sales volume grew 4 percent, spurred by 10-percent growth in the Asia Pacific region and a 4-percent rise in Europe and Eurasia. Volume in North America, Coca-Cola's largest market, increased 1 percent.
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Separately, Coke said it was concerned about the impact a weak yen could have on its business in Japan, one of its key overseas markets.
A weak yen, which traded recently at two-year lows against the U.S. dollar, makes it more difficult for foreign companies to sell products profitably in Japan, whose economy is sliding toward recession. 
- from staff and wire reports
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