Analyzing CocaCola (NYSE:KO) & Primo Brands (NYSE:PRMB)

Primo Brands (NYSE:PRMB) and CocaCola (NYSE:KO) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Dividends

Primo Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. CocaCola pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Primo Brands pays out -129.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CocaCola pays out 67.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CocaCola has increased its dividend for 64 consecutive years. CocaCola is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.7% of Primo Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.3% of CocaCola shares are held by institutional investors. 58.4% of Primo Brands shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of CocaCola shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Primo Brands and CocaCola, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Primo Brands	2	3	9	0	2.50
CocaCola	0	0	15	1	3.06

Primo Brands presently has a consensus price target of $28.33, suggesting a potential upside of 73.50%. CocaCola has a consensus price target of $79.08, suggesting a potential upside of 13.06%. Given Primo Brands’ higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Primo Brands is more favorable than CocaCola.

Risk & Volatility

Primo Brands has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CocaCola has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Primo Brands and CocaCola’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Primo Brands	-1.30%	12.52%	3.73%
CocaCola	27.34%	43.62%	12.43%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Primo Brands and CocaCola”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Primo Brands	$5.15 billion	1.17	-$16.40 million	($0.31)	-52.68
CocaCola	$47.06 billion	6.39	$10.63 billion	$3.02	23.16

CocaCola has higher revenue and earnings than Primo Brands. Primo Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CocaCola, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

CocaCola beats Primo Brands on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Primo Brands

Primo Brands Corp. is a branded beverage company, which focuses on healthy hydration. It delivers sustainably and domestically sourced diversified offerings across products, formats, channels, price points and consumer occasions, distributed in the United States and Canada. The company provides water filtration units for home and business consumers across North America. It also offers reusable packaging, helping to reduce waste through its reusable, multi-serve bottles and innovative brand packaging portfolio, which includes recycled plastic, aluminum and glass. Primo Brands was founded in 2024 and is headquartered in Tampa, FL.

About CocaCola

The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. The company provides sparkling soft drinks, sparkling flavors; water, sports, coffee, and tea; juice, value-added dairy, and plant-based beverages; and other beverages. It also offers beverage concentrates and syrups, as well as fountain syrups to fountain retailers, such as restaurants and convenience stores. The company sells its products under the Coca-Cola, Diet Coke/Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, caffeine free Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Fanta Orange, Fanta Zero Orange, Fanta Zero Sugar, Fanta Apple, Sprite, Sprite Zero Sugar, Simply Orange, Simply Apple, Simply Grapefruit, Fresca, Schweppes, Thums Up, Aquarius, Ayataka, BODYARMOR, Ciel, Costa, Dasani, dogadan, FUZE TEA, Georgia, glacéau smartwater, glacéau vitaminwater, Gold Peak, Ice Dew, I LOHAS, Powerade, Topo Chico, AdeS, Del Valle, fairlife, innocent, Minute Maid, and Minute Maid Pulpy brands. It operates through a network of independent bottling partners, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, as well as through bottling and distribution operators. The company was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.