The Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (ASX: CCL) share price is down around 14% over the past 5 years as the group struggles to lift sales and margins amidst a potentially structural shift in consumer tastes away from fizzy drinks considered to be unhealthy.
Coca-Cola reports on a calendar year basis and for 2018 reported a net profit down 37% to $279 million on sales revenue up 1.1% to $4,752 million.
The group also flagged that 2019 is expected to be another "transition" year which is a corporate euphemism for potentially falling earnings again, before it targets a return to mid-single-digit earnings per share growth from 2020.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs are less than enthused about the business putting a 'neutral' rating on it and 12-month share price target of $8.30, which is a touch above today's $8.38 exchange traded price.
Goldmans and the company have both identified further cost savings as a potential positive for the business, with less competition and discounting by competitors such as Pepsi also offering possible upside according to the analysts.
Risks include the well-known structural shift of consumers away from its core Coke product and continued margin pressure across all of its products.
I'm not a buyer of Coca-Cola shares, with the medium-term risks to sales plain to see.
