CLAIM #35791 · The Coca-Cola Company (KO) · 2026Q1 earnings call · Apr 28, 2026 · due Dec 31, 2026
“But at the overall level, if I take a step back and look at the underlying drivers of gross margin for the full year, we don't see a big deviation from the playbook that we've had.”
John Murphy · CFO
How to check this claim
Look at: Full-year comparable gross margin (gross profit margin excluding one-off items), fiscal year 2026
It came true if: Full-year gross margin roughly flat to up versus fiscal 2025 (within about -0.3 to +1.0 percentage points), i.e., no material deterioration
Where: Company quarterly income statements and full-year results (10-K / Q4 earnings release, gross margin line)
In context
“rter, which is really bringing that up to you flagged, coffee and tea. And then the general progression of the underlying contribution to gross margin as you would see it sort of going forward as the costs normalize. And then just one quick follow-up, John. I think you mentioned that the timing of CCBA could dictate margin progression in the back half. Can you just dig a bit deeper into what you were referring to with that comment? John Murphy: Sure, Chris. Let me start with the overall gross margin profile. Q1 was somewhat anomalous given one particular item in APAC, the phasing of juice inventory costs, particularly in China. And that's really as a one-off in the quarter. We have had commodity pressures in the tea and coffee space, and that's going to continue somewhat through the year. But at the overall level, if I take a step back and look at the underlying drivers of gross margin for the full year, we don't see a big deviation from the playbook that we've had. We'll -- we see the revenue growth management architecture work as a very solid foundation to sustaining margins. We continue to drive a lot of efficiency throughout the P&L. But on the cost front, we'll be taking a number of measures to somewhat mitigate against some of the commodity pieces I talked about earlier, which I said are manageable. So for the full -- I don't see it as being an area that's going backwards, the gross margin trends when I take out that inventory issue I mentioned we've got a lot of levers to work through and both as a company and as we alluded to earlier as a system. With regard to the CCBA piece, just it's a mechanical topic in terms of the impact it will have to the margin profile of the company. If we take CCBA's numbers out, lower-margin bottling business wil”
Verify independently
SEC filings for KO ↗ · Claim quote is verbatim from the 2026Q1 earnings call.