Coca-Cola’s 20 Billion Dollar Brands & Future Growth

The company has a 3%+ dividend yield, solid 7% to 9% constant currency earnings-per-share growth expectations, and a strong competitive advantage.

When investors think of Coca-Cola, they often think only of the company’s ubiquitous sodas. Today, Coca-Cola is so much more than a soda business.

This article takes a look at the 20 beverage brands Coca-Cola owns that generates $1 billion or more in sales each year. The impact of Coca-Cola’s billion dollar brands, along with emerging brands, will be analyzed to see Coca-Cola’s future growth potential.

Minute Maid

Minute Maid was Coca-Cola’s first non-carbonated beverage… Coca-Cola acquired Minute Maid in 1960. Coca-Cola has been in the juice business for 55 years.

Minute Maid was founded in 1945. The company got its start by winning a government contract for providing powdered orange juice to the United States Army. Fortunately for the world, but unfortunately for Minute Maid, the war ended that year and the contract was cancelled.

Minute Maid did not fold. The company pioneered the frozen orange juice concentrate approach and grew quickly. Minute Maid released its first bottled (as opposed to frozen) juice in 1973 to compete with Tropicana (now owned by PepsiCo).

Since then, the Minute Maid brand has continued to grow. By 1997, Minute Maid was generating over $2 billion a year in sales. The last estimate of the company’s sales was in 1997, but the brand has continued to grow globally since that time. The brand now likely generates revenues of between $4 billion and $8 billion every year for Coca-Cola.

Minute Maid Pulpy

Minute Maid Pulpy was launched in China in 2005. The company reached billion dollar brand status in 2010,after just 5 years.

Minute Maid Pulpy is the first brand Coca-Cola launched exclusively in an emerging market to reach annual revenues of $1 billion or more per year. Like American consumers, Chinese consumers are slowly trending toward healthier alternatives.

The Minute Maid Pulpy brand appeals to a more health conscious consumer. Juices simply do not have the same stigma as soda does. This trend will very likely result in future growth for the Minute Maid Pulpy brand in China, Singapore, Thailand, and other Asian countries.