# How Coca-Cola (KO) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/ko
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on KO alone. It places KO (The Coca-Cola Company) against 14 popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where KO stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: KO's full trading record, from October 1986 through September 2026. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** Over the past 6 months, KO rose 25.4% against 9.1% for the S&P 500 and 11.2% for the Nasdaq 100. Its food & beverage peers split over the past 6 months: KDP (Keurig Dr Pepper) rose 32.5%, while PEP (PepsiCo) fell 12.8%.
- **Stock or market?:** More than an industry move: KO rose 14.5% over the past 3 months, against 4.1% for the food & beverages ETF XLP (State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF). The S&P 500 rose 3.9%. KO rose 7.3% last month as the S&P 500 fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq 100 fell 3.2%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** KO has run far ahead of the market, rising 40.2% over the past year against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100.
- **Long term:** KO turned $10,000 into $30,400 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. That said, the past 5 years have been the better stretch: KO rose 98.2% against 81.7% for the S&P 500, after trailing over the decade.
- **In a crash:** KO fell less than the S&P 500 in six of seven sell-offs, but the Covid crash broke the pattern: it fell 37.0%, more than the S&P 500's 33.7%.
- **Diversification:** KO is some diversification, but not a hedge: a correlation of 0.30 with the S&P 500 over 5 years and 0.29 with the total US market, less closely than 69% of stocks worth at least $300 million. Over 10 years, KO's beta versus the S&P 500 was 0.47: 57% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 44% of its losses in falling ones.
- **Better options**
  - **Popular alternatives:** COKE (Coca-Cola Consolidated), KOF (Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V.) and COCO (Vita Coco) were ahead of KO in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (38.0%, 24.7% and 56.2% volatility against 16.8%).
  - **Whole market:** Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than KO with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them PVAL (Putnam Focused Large Cap Value ETF) and LVHI (Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF).

## How much would $10,000 in KO have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in KO over the past 29 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of KO over the same span and KO's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in KO at the end of September 1997 would have grown to $60,026 by September 2026, less than the $132,907 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- All eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of KO, and MNST finished highest, at $45,663,831.

## KO at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- KO's deepest decline since it began trading in 1986 was 55.5%, from July 1998 to March 2003. It took about eight years from the low to climb back to its old high.
- KO is trading within 1% of its all-time high.
- Over 29 full calendar years, KO's best was 2007, when it returned 30.4%, and its worst was 2008, when it lost 24.0%. It lost money in eight of those years.

- Type: Stock, Consumer Staples (Beverages - Non-Alcoholic)
- Trading since: October 17, 1986
- Market value: $402B
- Volatility (5 years): 16.8%; Sharpe ratio: 0.91
- Worst decline ever: −55.5%, from July 14, 1998 to March 10, 2003; back at its high by April 1, 2011

| Period | KO total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | +7.3% |
| 3 months | +14.5% |
| 6 months | +25.4% |
| year to date | +37.9% |
| 1 year | +40.2% |
| 3 years | +86.8% |
| 5 years | +98.2% |
| 10 years | +204% |

## KO against the whole market

Where KO ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does KO rank among all stocks?

This section ranks KO on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- KO is among the steadier stocks: its price swings rank in the top 1% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million, where the top is the calmest.

| Measure | KO | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +40.2% | 726 of 3,287 (top 23%) |
| 3-year return | +86.8% | 1,046 of 3,017 (top 35%) |
| 5-year return | +98.2% | 695 of 2,893 (top 25%) |
| 10-year return | +204% | 849 of 2,202 (top 39%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 16.8% | 32 of 2,893 (top 2%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 0.91 | 163 of 2,893 (top 6%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −37.0% | 86 of 2,187 (top 4%) |

### What has beaten KO on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- Two ETFs worth at least $500 million sit in the green region: each earned more than KO over the past 5 years with smaller price swings. That is fewer than 1% of the 3,633 screened. Few investments beat it on both counts.
- Among those with at least half KO's swings, LVHI has the best return for its risk: 17.0% a year at 11.1% volatility, 34% less than KO's 16.8%, and a Sharpe ratio (return above cash per unit of volatility) of 1.48 against 0.91 for KO.

### Is there a better investment than KO?

The table below lists investments that beat KO over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Among KO's popular alternatives, COKE, KOF and COCO were ahead of KO in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (38.0%, 24.7% and 56.2% volatility against 16.8%).
- Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than KO with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them PVAL and LVHI.

The 2 strongest of 2 investments that beat KO over the past 5 years, out of 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million.

| Investment | Group | Annual return (5 years) | Volatility | Sharpe | Worst decline (10 years) | 10Y return | Correlation with KO | Better on |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| KO: The Coca-Cola Company (this page) |  | +14.7% | 16.8% | 0.91 | −37.0% | +204% |  |  |
| LVHI: Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF | International Equity | +17.0% | 11.1% | 1.48 | −32.4% | +194% | 0.62 | Higher return, lower volatility |
| PVAL: Putnam Focused Large Cap Value ETF | US Large-Cap Value | +16.1% | 15.1% | 1.07 | −41.3% | — | 0.44 | Higher return, lower volatility |

## KO against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against KO, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do KO's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- None of the 14 popular alternatives earned more than KO over the past 5 years with smaller price swings, so every higher return on the map came with a bumpier ride.
- Seven of the 14 popular alternatives earned less than KO over the past 5 years while swinging more, the weaker corner of the map.
- Over the past 5 years, KO returned 14.7% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with lower volatility (16.8% against 17.1%).

### Has KO consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares KO with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over eight periods from one month to ten years.

- COKE outperformed KO in every long-term period and in all but one short-term period, the most consistent record in the group.
- Two of the 14 popular alternatives, COKE and COCO, outperformed KO in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes.
- WMT earned more for the risk it took than KO (a higher Sharpe ratio) and fell less in its worst decline of the past 10 years.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of KO | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| KO: The Coca-Cola Company (this page) | +40.2% | +86.8% | +98.2% | +204% |  |  | 0.91 |
| COKE: Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. | +61.7% | +255% | +461% | +1,569% | 4/5 short-term, 3/3 long-term | all-weather | 1.10 |
| COCO: The Vita Coco Company, Inc. | +48.4% | +152% | +357% | — | 3/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term | consistent | 0.82 |
| [WMT](https://easycompare.io/research/wmt): Walmart Inc. | +11.0% | +130% | +158% | +508% | 1/5 short-term, 3/3 long-term |  | 0.96 |
| [CCEP](https://easycompare.io/research/ccep): Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PLC | +28.3% | +116% | +146% | +292% | 1/5 short-term, 3/3 long-term |  | 0.90 |
| KOF: Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V. | +46.7% | +96.0% | +174% | +119% | 2/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 0.94 |
| [COST](https://easycompare.io/research/cost): Costco Wholesale Corporation | +6.9% | +87.2% | +123% | +685% | 1/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 0.82 |
| [MNST](https://easycompare.io/research/mnst): Monster Beverage Corporation | +34.9% | +88.2% | +121% | +285% | 0/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 0.77 |
| [KDP](https://easycompare.io/research/kdp): Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. | +28.7% | +31.9% | +13.4% | +281% | 2/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.23 |
| CELH: Celsius Holdings, Inc. | −53.5% | −44.5% | −4.3% | +4,120% | 0/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.32 |
| FIZZ: National Beverage Corp. | +6.7% | −5.6% | −21.8% | +108% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | -0.02 |
| STZ: Constellation Brands, Inc. | −3.3% | −38.5% | −33.2% | −6.6% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | -0.19 |
| [MDLZ](https://easycompare.io/research/mdlz): Mondelez International, Inc. | +5.5% | +9.2% | +21.5% | +93.4% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.29 |
| PRMB: Primo Brands Corporation | −7.8% | +64.5% | +41.2% | +79.7% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.38 |
| [PEP](https://easycompare.io/research/pep): PepsiCo, Inc. | −9.2% | −6.7% | −2.3% | +72.6% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.07 |

### How did KO do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 1997, along with where KO ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- KO finished ahead of the S&P 500 in 11 of its 29 full calendar years, and behind it in each of the last three.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, KO finished in the top quarter in one of 29 years and in the bottom quarter in six. In 2025, it ranked 8 of 15.
- Among its popular alternatives, COST came out ahead of KO most often, in 22 of the 29 years both traded.

| Year | KO | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +15.6% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +8.9% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | −4.4% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | +10.6% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +11.4% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | +2.5% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +20.6% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | +6.8% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | +14.3% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | −0.3% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How KO has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were KO's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In all three of KO's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: KO fell 25.3% from June to October 1997, while the S&P 500 slipped only 2.1%.
- The slowest recovery came after KO fell 55.5% from July 1998 to March 2003; it did not regain that peak until April 2011, eight years later.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −55.5% | July 14, 1998 | March 10, 2003 | April 1, 2011 | −27.0% | dot-com bust |
| −41.1% | August 25, 1987 | October 19, 1987 | March 13, 1989 | — |  |
| −37.0% | February 21, 2020 | March 23, 2020 | July 27, 2021 | −32.8% | Covid crash |
| −25.3% | June 13, 1997 | October 27, 1997 | March 9, 1998 | −2.1% |  |
| −21.3% | July 19, 1990 | August 23, 1990 | December 5, 1990 | — |  |

### How did KO do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far KO, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- KO fell less than the S&P 500 in eight of the ten crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the dot-com bust, when KO fell 31.3% and the S&P 500 fell 47.5%.
- None of its popular alternatives fell less than KO in most of the crashes they both traded through.

| Crash | Dates | KO fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | −31.3% | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | −40.6% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | 0.0% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −8.3% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −8.8% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −7.8% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −8.8% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −37.0% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −16.7% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −1.4% | −3.4% |

### How closely does KO move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Over the past 10 years, KO captured 57% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 44% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 0.47. That is a defensive profile: it gave up some of the market's upside in exchange for smaller losses.
- WMT took just 36% of the S&P 500's losses, against 44% for KO, while still keeping 74% of its gains.
- Five of the 13 popular alternatives had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than KO's 1.29, led by WMT, COKE and COST.

Measured over the past 10 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| KO: The Coca-Cola Company (this page) | 57.0% | 44.0% | 0.47 |
| COKE: Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. | 123% | 60.0% | 0.81 |
| [WMT](https://easycompare.io/research/wmt): Walmart Inc. | 74.0% | 36.0% | 0.53 |
| [CCEP](https://easycompare.io/research/ccep): Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PLC | 69.0% | 56.0% | 0.66 |
| KOF: Coca-Cola FEMSA, S.A.B. de C.V. | 63.0% | 73.0% | 0.68 |
| [COST](https://easycompare.io/research/cost): Costco Wholesale Corporation | 93.0% | 50.0% | 0.77 |
| [MNST](https://easycompare.io/research/mnst): Monster Beverage Corporation | 87.0% | 87.0% | 0.80 |
| [KDP](https://easycompare.io/research/kdp): Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. | 59.0% | 38.0% | 0.56 |
| CELH: Celsius Holdings, Inc. | 195% | 127% | 1.54 |
| FIZZ: National Beverage Corp. | 73.0% | 99.0% | 0.94 |
| STZ: Constellation Brands, Inc. | 48.0% | 111% | 0.79 |
| [MDLZ](https://easycompare.io/research/mdlz): Mondelez International, Inc. | 45.0% | 55.0% | 0.52 |
| PRMB: Primo Brands Corporation | 71.0% | 96.0% | 1.05 |
| [PEP](https://easycompare.io/research/pep): PepsiCo, Inc. | 48.0% | 65.0% | 0.48 |

### What diversifies KO?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in KO into DXJ would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 15% over the past 5 years and raised its annual return (+13.7% for KO alone, +16.5% for the mix).
- Among large ETFs, DXJ, EMLP and SMH have moved largely independently of KO over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.49 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.
- FIX made money in five of the eight calendar years in which KO lost money.

| Investment | Correlation with KO | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in KO's 8 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.24 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 2 of 8 |
| EMLP: First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund | 0.49 | +101% | 14.5% | 1.04 | 2 of 8 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.02 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 3 of 8 |
| DBEF: Xtrackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | 0.48 | +85.0% | 13.8% | 0.96 | 2 of 8 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | 0.33 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 4 of 8 |
| SPMO: Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | 0.20 | +136% | 20.8% | 0.93 | 2 of 8 |
| [XLE](https://easycompare.io/research/xle): State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.33 | +177% | 25.5% | 0.93 | 4 of 8 |
| FDVV: Fidelity High Dividend ETF | 0.48 | +85.9% | 14.6% | 0.92 | 1 of 8 |

## Common questions

### What was KO's worst drawdown?

KO's deepest decline since it began trading in 1986 was 55.5%, from July 1998 to March 2003. It took about eight years from the low to climb back to its old high.

### What were KO's best and worst years?

Over 29 full calendar years, KO's best year was 2007, when it returned 30.4%. Its worst was 2008, with a return of -24.0%.

### Is there a better investment than KO?

Among KO's popular alternatives, COKE, KOF and COCO were ahead of KO in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (38.0%, 24.7% and 56.2% volatility against 16.8%). Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than KO with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them PVAL and LVHI.

### Is KO more volatile than the S&P 500?

No. KO's volatility over the past 5 years was 16.8%, 1.0 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, KO's return lands within 16.8% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is KO's Sharpe ratio?

KO's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 0.91, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so KO earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is KO with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, KO's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.30 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They are only loosely linked, which makes it a real diversifier next to an index fund. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against KO instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a KO holding.

### What are the best alternatives to KO?

Of the 14 popular alternatives we compared, two outperformed KO in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, with dividends reinvested: COKE and COCO.

### Did KO outperform the S&P 500?

KO finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in 11 of 29 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +15.6%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did KO do in stock market crashes?

KO fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in eight of the ten major crashes it has traded through, and further in two. The clearest case was the dot-com bust, when KO fell 31.3% and the S&P 500 fell 47.5%.

### What diversifies KO?

These had a low correlation with KO over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, DXJ (correlation 0.24), EMLP (correlation 0.49) and SMH (correlation 0.02); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.37), CLS (correlation -0.12) and FIX (correlation 0.10). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [Walmart (WMT) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/wmt)
- [Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/ccep)
- [Costco Wholesale (COST) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/cost)
- [Monster Beverage (MNST) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/mnst)
- [Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/kdp)
- [Mondelez International (MDLZ) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/mdlz)
- [PepsiCo (PEP) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/pep)
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## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/ko
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against KO live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=KO&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research