Piper starts with a supply of soda; Pepsi, Coca-Cola ‘overweight’, Dr Pepper ‘neutral’ By Investing.com
Investing.com — Piper Sandler initiated coverage on soda stocks, rating PepsiCo (NASDAQ: ), Coca-Cola (NYSE: ) “Overweight” and a Neutral rating on Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ: ).
Keurig Dr Pepper received a $35 price target as analysts cited rising coffee bean costs and weak sales momentum. While optimistic about the Ghost brand’s growth potential, Piper remains cautious about pricing opportunities amid record high input costs for coffee.
PepsiCo was given a $171 target. Piper highlighted challenges from consumer pushback due to high prices and uncertain 2025 guidance, but pointed to Frito-Lay’s potential recovery and productivity savings as key positives.
“There appears to be a lot of uncertainty already on the price, and we believe that Frito-Lay, arguably the world’s best food company, can return to form over time,” a Piper analyst wrote.
Coca-Cola’s target price was $74. The analyst noted its strong brands, performance and emerging market growth opportunities, noting significant gap potential and superior ad spend compared to competitors.
“Ko’s portfolio benefits from attractive global beverage category growth rates and sustained share gains. It has an opportunity for empty space in emerging markets where it has significant exposure. KO has an impressive brand spend with the highest advertising spend as a percentage of sales,” the analyst added.
