If You Invested $1,000 In Coca-Cola Stock When Vitaminwater Was Acquired, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Beverage giant The Coca-Cola Company KO has not shied away from acquiring other smaller beverage brands to expand its portfolio. Here’s a look at how one acquisition paid off for the company and its shareholders.

What Happened: Over the last 15 years, Coca-Cola has put an emphasis in expanding its portfolio of non-carbonated soft drinks with higher growth coming from that category.

In 2007, Coca-Cola announced the $4.1-billion acquisition of Vitaminwater maker Energy Brands Inc., also known as Glaceau.

“Glaceau has built a great business with high-quality growth, as well as a strong pipeline of innovative products and brands," Coca-Cola CEO Neville Isdell said at the time. "We envision even faster growth for Glaceau as part of Coca-Cola’s enhanced range of brands for North American customers and consumers."

The company said it would expand Vitaminwater in the U.S. and then worldwide.

Sales of Vitaminwater hit $1 billion annually years after the acquisition and the brand remains a staple in the non-carbonated soft drink portfolio of Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola acquired the remaining 85% stake in sports drink brand BODYARMOR for $5.6 billion in 2021, marking its largest acquisition and a continued bet on non-carbonated soft drinks.

Related Link: Coca-Cola Q2 Earnings Smashes Estimates 

Investing $1,000 in Coca-Cola: The Vitaminwater acquisition was announced before market open on May 25, 2007. A $1,000 investment could have purchased 16.25 shares based on a price of $51.56 at open.

Coca-Cola performed a 2-for-1 stock split in July 2012, which would have taken the hypothetical investment to 38.78 shares.

The $1,000 investment would be worth $2,433.06 today based on a price of $62.74 for Coca-Cola at the time of writing.

The investment would have returned 143.3% over the last 15 years, or around 9.6% on average annually.

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