Reading headlines about Coca-Cola (KO), you would think the company will be shutting its doors soon.

Articles Like:

  • The End of the Coke Era on Business Insider
  • Coca-Cola: End of an Era? on Seeking Alpha
  • Is This The End of Coca-Cola As We Know It? on NASDAQ
  • Make it sound like Coca-Cola is on its last legs.

    People here Coca-Cola, and they think of the iconic soda; and they are right to – Coca-Cola is the global leader in soda.

    But there’s more to Coca-Cola than soda…

    KO Infographic

    Source: Coca-Cola Investor Relations

    Coca-Cola is the global leader in:

  • Still (non-carbonated) beverages
  • Ready-to-drink coffee
  • Ready-to-drink juice
  • The company has 20 brands that generate more than $1 billion a year in sales. And no, they aren’t all soda brands.

    Of Coca-Cola’s 20 billion dollar brands 14 are non-carbonated.

    It’s time we stop thinking about Coca-Cola as a soda business, and start thinking about Coca-Cola as a global beverage business.

    Coca-Cola’s Simple Growth Story

    The growth story surrounding Coca-Cola is surprisingly simple.

    If people continue to drink beverages, Coca-Cola will continue to grow its earnings.

    As long as more people prefer any type of beverage to tap water, Coca-Cola will very likely grow.

    That’s about as safe an investment as can be made.

    Fortunately for Coca-Cola, greater numbers of people in the world are able to afford buying the company’s expensive (relative to tap water) beverages.

    Over the next 5 years, the global middle class is expected to increase by 700 million. Personal consumption growth is expected to increase 20 trillion. The image below highlights this growth:

    KO Abundant Growth

    Source: image below, slide 4

    Margin Improvement Programs

    Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent is focused on improving Coca-Cola’s margins. Margin enhancing cost-cutting moves in 2015 are shown below:

  • 4 Plant closures
  • Closed or converted 7 distribution facilities
  • Reduced non-bottling headcount by ~10% (over 1,600 people)
  • The company is also refranchising many North American bottlers and consolidating bottling agreements in other parts of the world.