CocaCola (NYSE:KO) versus Reeds (OTCMKTS:REED) Head to Head Survey

Reeds (OTCMKTS:REED) and CocaCola (NYSE:KO) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability and risk.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Reeds	-43.28%	N/A	-69.61%
CocaCola	27.34%	43.62%	12.43%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

51.5% of Reeds shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.3% of CocaCola shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Reeds shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of CocaCola shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Reeds	$50.78 million	2.11	-$13.15 million	($1.22)	-1.64
CocaCola	$47.66 billion	6.43	$10.63 billion	$3.02	23.57

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Reeds and CocaCola, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Reeds	0	0	1	0	3.00
CocaCola	0	0	16	1	3.06

Reeds presently has a consensus price target of $1.75, indicating a potential downside of 12.50%. CocaCola has a consensus price target of $78.43, indicating a potential upside of 10.16%. Given CocaCola’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe CocaCola is more favorable than Reeds.

Risk & Volatility

Reeds has a beta of 0.18, suggesting that its stock price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CocaCola has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

CocaCola beats Reeds on 15 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Reeds

Reed's, Inc. engages in the manufacture and distribution of natural beverages in the United States. The company offers Reed's craft ginger beer; Reed's real ginger ales; Reed's Classic Mules; Reed's Hard Ginger Ale; Reed's ready to drink products; and Virgil's handcrafted sodas. It sells its products to natural food and gourmet retailers, grocery store chains, mass merchants, club stores, convenience and drug stores, liquor stores, industrial cafeterias, and on-premise bars and restaurants, as well as directly to consumers through www.drinkreeds.com. The company was formerly known as Original Beverage Corporation and changed its name to Reed's, Inc. in 2001. Reed's, Inc. was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

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.