Dr. Pepper shares hit lowest price since spin-off

Shares of soft drink maker Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. on Tuesday traded at their lowest point since the company was formed in a spin-off of Cadbury PLC's U.S. beverage business.

Shares fell $1, or 4.2 percent, to $22.60 in midday trading after hitting a low of $22.28 earlier in the day.

The stock began officially trading on the New York Stock Exchange May 7 with an opening price of $25.20.

The stock hit the low even after Goldman Sachs analyst Judy Hong said in an analyst note late Monday that the stock "looks interesting."

Hong said the company's large concentrate business shelters it from some of the commodity pressures that have led to higher costs at soft drink makers and bottlers. Dr. Pepper Snapple gets a large amount of its profits from the concentrate business, which involves selling to bottlers the syrup for its drinks.

Most soft drink companies have struggled recently with far higher costs for sweetener, aluminum, resin and other ingredients needed to make and bottle their drinks.