Goldman Sachs Maintains Buy on Coca-Cola

Goldman Sachs is out with its report today on Coca-Cola KO, maintaining Buy. In a note to clients, Goldman Sachs writes, "KO reported 2Q2011 EPS of $1.17, which was ahead of our $1.15 estimate and consensus of $1.16. The beat was of high quality, as both revenues and EBIT came in above expectations. FX-neutral operating growth of 12% exceeded our estimate of 9% on better NA profitability (+$0.04). Better EBIT and higher net interest income (+$0.02) was partially offset by lower equity income (-$0.03) and higher share count (-$0.01). We expect the shares to trade up on solid 2Q EPS. We also see positive read-through for CCE given solid Europe volume results." At the time of posting, shares of KO were trading at $68.13, up 1.50% from Monday's close.