Coca-Cola (KO 0.74%) reported earnings before the opening bell on Tuesday. Here's what you need to know about the company's results.

Quarterly recap
The cola giant delivered earnings of $0.64 per share for the quarter, which was slightly above Wall Street's expected profits of $0.63 per share and up 1% from the year-ago period. Global sales volume rose 3% for the quarter. Yet Coke's second-quarter revenues of $12.57 billion were down 1% from the year-ago quarter. Coke attributed part of the decline to currency headwinds. Coke shares traded down more than 3% Tuesday morning after the company issued its results. 

Wins and woes
Second-quarter global unit case volume was flat in North America, despite increased marketing around the World Cup and the launch of the "Share a Coke" campaign. Yet several developing and emerging markets experienced solid volume growth in Q2. For example, China experienced 9% volume growth for the quarter, while the Middle East, South Africa, and Pakistan enjoyed double-digit volume growth. Coke's noncarbonated beverages continued to see a boost during the second quarter. The company's worldwide noncarbonated beverage volume grew by 5%, and its sparkling beverage volume grew 2% for the quarter. 

Despite Coke's Q2 sparkling beverage volume growth, domestic carbonated soft drink sales have experienced a decade-long decline. Coca-Cola is exploring one creative alternative to jolt sales. In February, Coke and Keurig Green Mountain signed a decade-long agreement to roll out Coke's portfolio of products for use in Green Mountain's upcoming Keurig Cold at-home beverage system. While Coke views the partnership as an opportunity to grow overall sales, it remains to be seen whether this alliance will boost at-home consumption of Coke products.

Looking ahead
Coke anticipates adjusted EPS will be hurt by $0.02 in the latter half of 2014 due to the restructuring of its Russian juice operations and the separation of its Brazilian bottling operations last year. During the first half of 2014, the maker of Sprite, Dasani, PowerAde, and Odwalla generated $4.5 billion in cash from operations. Coca-Cola returned $1.3 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and affirmed that it's on track to achieve close to $3 billion in share repurchases by the end of 2014. Its stock currently pays a dividend yield of 2.9%. 

Foolish takeaway
As the most recent quarter's results show, Coca-Cola is struggling. Its lack of growth and stalled-out soft drink markets remain concerning for investors. Yet Coke still boasts plenty of attractive long-term growth opportunities, namely its Keurig Green Mountain partnership. For the patient investor, Coke still holds a great deal of promise.