In today's world, most companies span several regions and sell across the world. As Foolish colleague Morgan Housel notes, 10 years ago, less than a third of S&P 500 revenue came from overseas. Today, more than half of the S&P 500's growth comes from overseas.
And that number is growing. The truth is, investors regularly underestimate how much demand comes from abroad. More importantly, for large, multinational corporations that have already established a presence in their home markets, much of their future growth comes from abroad.
With that in mind, today we're looking at Coca-Cola
Where Coca-Cola's sales are today
Today, Coca-Cola collects 32% of its sales from its home North American market. The chart below breaks down Coca-Cola's sales by geography.
Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Coca-Cola's "Corporate" segment includes general corporate, bottling investments, and eliminations categories.
Where Coca-Cola's sales were five years ago
Five years ago, Coca-Cola actually collected 29% of its sales from North America, an increase over the past five years. As a proportion of sales, European and Asian markets have seen their influence on Coke's top line dwindle over the past five years.
Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Coca-Cola's "Corporate" segment includes general corporate, bottling investments, and eliminations categories.
But where are the profits coming from?
Another measure to look at is where Coca-Cola's profits actually come from. Sometimes companies can push into new geographies to expand their brand but have limited profits in the new location. That can be a sign of either a growth period, or tough dynamics in new markets. In the case of Coca-Cola, here's the breakdown of its 2010 operating profit before tax.
Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Profit share is based on percentage between units while excluding corporate losses.
It might surprise investors to see that while Coca-Cola's largest sales area is North America, its largest profit centers are Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Being able to collect higher profits from these areas could be a boon in coming years, as they continue to be some of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Competitor checkup
One last point to check is how Coca-Cola's footprint compares to some of its peers across the broader beverage and food industry:
|
Company |
Geographic Area With Most Sales |
Percent of Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Coca-Cola | North America | 32% |
|
PepsiCo |
United States | 53% |
|
Dr Pepper Snapple Group |
United States | 89% |
|
Kraft |
United States | 43% |
Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.
Not surprisingly, Coca-Cola is more geographically diversified than many peers in consumer goods.
Keep searching
If you're looking to stay updated on Coca-Cola, or any other companies listed above, make sure to add them to our free watchlist service, My Watchlist. It's free, and it helps you constantly stay updated on news and analysis on your favorite companies.
- Add Coca-Cola to My Watchlist.
- Add PepsiCo to My Watchlist.
- Add Dr Pepper Snapple Group to My Watchlist.
- Add Kraft to My Watchlist.
