Coca-Cola hits a record high after smashing profit estimates on strong low-sugar drink sales

Flickr/Zac Attack

• Coca-Cola rose as much as 5% in early trading on Tuesday, reaching a new intraday record.
• The company attributed its second-quarter earnings beat to strong volume for its namesake brand and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar seeing its seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit global growth.
• Unit case volume in grew 7% in Asia, bolstered by strong demand from Chinese consumers.
• Watch Coca-Cola trade live here.

Coca-Cola hit an intraday record high in early trading on Tuesday after beating second-quarter earnings estimates and boosting its full-year 2019 revenue forecast.

The beverage conglomerate said its quarterly growth was primarily driven by soft-drink sales, with its namesake soda rising 4% in volume and transaction growth. Its Coca-Cola Zero Sugar brand saw its seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit global volume growth.

Coke also partnered with Netflix in the second quarter to revive its "New Coke" brand, which first hit shelves in 1985. The promotion was one of several in connection to the third season of "Stranger Things" and its July 4 release date.

The company also touted the release of new canned coffee drinks and a Coca-Cola energy drink in the last quarter. The coffee product is its first in partnership with Costa Coffee since Coke acquired the U.K. brand in January. Coke plans to expand its Costa Coffee drink to 10 countries in 2020, and sell its Coca-Cola Energy cans in 20 countries by the end of 2019. Both products aren't yet available in the US.

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Coke also got a boost internationally, as global unit case volume grew 3%. That included a 7% increase in Asia, where demand was helped in particular by Chinese consumers.

Coca-Cola is now up about 14% in the year-to-date. The company has 13 "buy" ratings, 16 "hold" ratings, and 1 "sell" rating from analysts and a consensus price target of $52.87 per share, according to Bloomberg data.

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