Coca-Cola tops 1Q profit and revenue expectations

Coca-Cola Co. (KO) on Wednesday reported first-quarter earnings of $1.56 billion.

The Atlanta-based company said it had profit of 35 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 48 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 43 cents per share.

The world's largest beverage maker posted revenue of $10.71 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $10.66 billion.

Coke shares have dropped slightly more than 3 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen almost 2 percent. The stock has climbed slightly in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap ) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on KO at http://www.zacks.com/ap/KO

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Keywords: Coca-Cola, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings