Moat
moat: latest change 2026-02-20 The asset is the trademarks and the secret formulas behind them; the bottling network is how they reach a shelf. The 10-K's own strengths list names both. What caps the moat sits on the same page: the competitive challenges include "a concentrated retail sector with powerful buyers able to freely choose among Company products, products of competitive beverage suppliers and individual retailers' own store or private-label beverage brands".
Rating: wide
The FY2025 10-K's own competitive-strengths list leads with "leading brands with high levels of consumer recognition and loyalty" and "a worldwide network of bottlers and distributors of Company products", and the trademarks behind those brands are "valid as long as they are in use and/or their registrations are properly maintained" — an IP right the filing gives no expiry. Gross margin rose 59.5% to 61.1% to 61.6% across FY2023-FY2025 on the XBRL in the same annual filings, in an industry the filing itself calls "highly competitive".
Type: intangibles ip
The filing locates the durable assets in intellectual property rather than scale: "our sparkling beverage and other beverage formulas are among the important trade secrets of our Company", and "We also own numerous trademarks that are very important to our business", which are "valid as long as they are in use and/or their registrations are properly maintained" — unlike a patent, no fixed term.
Leadership: co leader
The filing claims leading BRANDS but never category leadership, and names "PepsiCo, Inc." as "a primary competitor" in many countries, alongside Nestle S.A., Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., Danone S.A., Suntory Beverage & Food Limited, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Kirin Holdings, Heineken N.V., Diageo plc and Red Bull GmbH.
Pricing power: strong
Three consecutive years of gross-margin expansion — 59.5% (FY2023), 61.1% (FY2024), 61.6% (FY2025) — through an inflationary period. The filing discloses the countervailing force itself: competitive pressures "may restrict our and our bottlers' ability to increase prices".
Curated moat judgment grounded in the cited source. source: sec.gov
Compare with…
Value-chain position
Layer: AI-adopting incumbents
- Upstream (suppliers): Microsoft
- Downstream (customers): —
- Competitors: —
Outside this graph's supply chain: an AI-adopting incumbent whose beverage business buys AI as a tool rather than supplying it.
Derived from this company's mapped supply-chain edges and its industry layer.
Signal contribution editorial prior
The moat prior voted +0.35 on the long (~6-month) horizon at weight 0.20 — the swarm call there is neutral (score 0.04, conviction 0).
Editorial prior — subjective, not backtested. It is bounded (±0.6), low-confidence, and never votes on short/medium. See exactly how it voted →
