Few investors were interested in taking a swig of soft drink bottler Coca-Cola Consolidated (COKE 1.04%) in May. This was due largely to a dispiriting first-quarter earnings release that even an aggressive forward stock split -- often a spark for renewed interest in a company -- couldn't help. That left the company with a poor-tasting share price decline of over 15% within the month.
Flat soda
Coca-Cola Consolidated didn't begin May on a high note. On the first day of the month, investors reacted distastefully to those first-quarter figures, released after the market closed the preceding day.
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Like a Coke that's been left unattended too long, net sales were essentially flat on a year-over-year basis at slightly under $1.6 billion, on the back of unit volume that sank by nearly 7% -- although, to be fair, this was affected by two fewer selling days in the 2025 quarter. Worse, GAAP net income saw a notable decline of 37%, to just below $104 million.
The disparity between the slight change in net sales and the drop in unit volume can be explained by the company's set of price increases. That surely didn't boost confidence in its operations, as investors prefer to see organic improvements in the businesses they own, not movement supported by increased charges.
Meanwhile Coca-Cola Consolidated's stock split, which the company's board of directors originally approved in early March, was ratified in a shareholder vote that took place in mid-May. The actual split, a 10-for-1 exchange, took effect near the end of the month.
Forward stock splits can put some fizz into a company, as a key reason for enacting them is to make its equity cheaper on a per-share basis. (Of course, the number of shares rises dramatically but the price falls commensurately, so the market cap of the company doesn't change.)
That didn't happen in this instance, probably because it was effectively a done deal two months earlier, and concerns lingered about the company's first-quarter performance.
The best kind of growth
In all, May was a month Coca-Cola Consolidated probably wants to forget. Those results provided little reason for enthusiasm, and while that stock split was somewhat historic, it wasn't really impactful. If the company manages to find ways to boost operational and financial metrics more organically in the coming quarters, however, I believe the market's sentiment might change dramatically for the better.
