CCE reaffirmed its FY2009 EPS guidance of $1.44-$1.49. The figure, which had been raised in July, was larger than the $1.33 predicted by analysts.
CCE was upgraded by an analyst from UBS, who cited Pepsi's acquisition of its bottlers as a galvanizing event that will force Coca-Cola Company to become more "outward-facing and engaged" with its largest bottlers.
Deutsche Bank reiterated its rating of "hold" for CCE while raising its price target to $16 from $13.
A Goldman Sachs analyst upgraded Coca-Cola Enterprises, citing stregnth in emerging markets.
Coca-Cola Enterprises reported an overall loss in FY2008 resulting mainly from impairment charges of $7.6 billion. This significantly overwhelmed a 4% increase in annual revenue and a negligible increase in gross profit.
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.'s shares sank 18% after the world's largest soft-drink bottler reported a drop in third quarter profit and lowered its 2008 earnings estimate again. CEE was also was hit by a sharp increase in the price of soft-drink concentrate chraged by Coca-Cola as both company's grapple over a steadly weakening environment in the U.S.
Coca-Cola Enterprises posted a second-quarter net loss of $3.2 billion compared with year-earlier profit of $270 million on a large write down on it's North American licensing assets.
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.'s (CCE) first-quarter net income fell to $8 million, or 2 cents a share, from $15 million, or 3 cents, a year earlier, hurt by a soft economy in North America.
4/26/2007 – 4/27/2007: Coca-Cola Enterprises announced first-quarter 2007 results, reporting a 6.3% decrease in profits from first-quarter 2006.
3/13/2007 – 3/20/2007: Coca-Cola Enterprises announced a $2.9 billion impairment charge, an accounting charge related to the company's belief that its trademarks were not worth as much money as it had originally assumed. CCE also announced that it would cut 3,500 jobs.
3/9/2007 – 3/12/2007: The Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Enterprises, and Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (Nasdaq:COKE) settled a lawsuit filed by other, smaller bottlers in the Coca-Cola system. The lawsuit protested the delivery of POWERade directly to Wal-Mart warehouses instead of to individual stores, stating that this practice threatened smaller bottlers that deliver Coca-Cola products to individual stores in certain regions.
