Head to Head Review: Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) and Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (COKE)

Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) and Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (NASDAQ:COKE) are both mid-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitabiliy, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Dr Pepper Snapple Group pays an annual dividend of $2.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Dr Pepper Snapple Group pays out 55.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated pays out 16.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Dr Pepper Snapple Group has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Dr Pepper Snapple Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.7% of Dr Pepper Snapple Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.7% of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Dr Pepper Snapple Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dr Pepper Snapple Group	$6.57 billion	2.50	$1.58 billion	$4.17	21.66
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated	$3.40 billion	0.67	$245.38 million	$5.90	41.09

Dr Pepper Snapple Group has higher revenue and earnings than Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated. Dr Pepper Snapple Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dr Pepper Snapple Group	1	6	5	0	2.33
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated	0	0	0	0	N/A

Dr Pepper Snapple Group presently has a consensus price target of $99.22, indicating a potential upside of 9.87%. Given Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Dr Pepper Snapple Group is more favorable than Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated.

Risk & Volatility

Dr Pepper Snapple Group has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated has a beta of 0.03, indicating that its share price is 97% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dr Pepper Snapple Group	11.73%	38.28%	8.50%
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated	1.62%	14.95%	2.19%

Summary

Dr Pepper Snapple Group beats Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Company Profile

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. is an integrated brand owner, manufacturer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The Company offers a diverse portfolio of flavored (non-cola) carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) and non-carbonated beverages (NCBs), including ready-to-drink teas, juices, juice drinks, water and mixers. The Company’s segments include Beverage Concentrates, Packaged Beverages and Latin America Beverages. The Company’s brand portfolio includes CSD brands, such as Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, Penafiel, Squirt, 7UP, Crush, A&W, Sunkist soda and Schweppes, and NCB brands, such as Snapple, Hawaiian Punch, Mott’s and Clamato. The Company’s NCB brands include Snapple, Hawaiian Punch, Mott’s, FIJI mineral water, Clamato, Yoo-Hoo, Deja Blue, Bai Brands, ReaLemon, AriZona tea, Vita Coco coconut water, Mr and Mrs T mixers, BodyArmor, Nantucket Nectars, Garden Cocktail, Mistic and Rose’s.

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Company Profile

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated produces, markets and distributes nonalcoholic beverages. The Company is an independent Coca-Cola bottler in the United States. The Company’s segments include Nonalcoholic Beverages and All Other. Majority of its total bottle/can volume to retail customers consist of products of The Coca-Cola Company. It also distributes products for various other beverage brands, including Dr Pepper, Sundrop and Monster Energy. The Company’s product offerings include both sparkling and still beverages. Sparkling beverages are carbonated beverages and the Company’s principal sparkling beverage is Coca-Cola. Still beverages include energy products and noncarbonated beverages, such as bottled water, tea, ready to drink coffee, enhanced water, juices and sports drinks. There are two main categories of sales, which include bottle/can sales and other sales.