Coca-Cola 10-Q Details Q3 Beat, $12.5B Nine-Month Cash Flow and $14B IRS Exposure
KO sits 36% above its 52-week low of $67.274.
Summary
Coca-Cola's Q3 10-Q confirms the 7% revenue growth and $0.93 diluted EPS already reported, shows nine-month operating cash flow of $12,471 million, and quantifies a potential ~$14 billion IRS exposure on top of the $6.0 billion already paid.
Key Events · Earnings and Guidance · KO
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Q3 Revenue Up 7% to $13.4B
Net operating revenues were $13,380 million versus $12,455 million, with operating income up 12% to $4,465 million and diluted EPS of $0.93 versus $0.86.
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Nine-Month Cash Flow Jumps to $12.5B
Operating cash flow was $12,471 million versus $3,652 million a year earlier, helped by the absence of 2025's $6,069 million fairlife milestone payment; dividends of $6,842 million were paid in the period.
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IRS Exposure Quantified at ~$14B
Coca-Cola has paid a $6.0 billion deposit and carries a $589 million interest receivable; it estimates potential remaining incremental tax and interest for 2010-2025 at approximately $14 billion, which would raise the effective tax rate by about 3.8%. The Eleventh Circuit heard the appeal on June 25, 2026 and no ruling is disclosed.
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Southeast Asia Bottling Units Held for Sale
Bottling operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar met held-for-sale criteria in Q3 2026, with closings subject to regulatory approval and expected by mid-2027; total assets held for sale were $6,275 million.
Analysis · KO · Manufacturing
The headline numbers were already out on October 27, but the 10-Q is where the balance sheet and the tax risk live. Nine-month operating cash flow of $12,471 million against $3,652 million a year earlier reflects strong trading plus the absence of last year's $6,069 million fairlife milestone payment, and it comfortably funds the $6,842 million of dividends paid. The item that matters most for valuation is the IRS transfer pricing case: Coca-Cola has already paid $6.0 billion and carries a $589 million interest receivable, and it estimates the potential remaining incremental tax and interest for 2010-2025 at roughly $14 billion, which would add about 3.8 percentage points to the effective tax rate if the Tax Court's methodology were upheld. Management still says it is more likely than not to prevail, and the Eighth Circuit's October 2025 ruling in the 3M blocked-income case supports that view, but the Eleventh Circuit heard the appeal on June 25, 2026 and no decision is in the filing. Elsewhere, Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar bottling operations were newly moved to held for sale with closings expected by mid-2027, and the company disclosed a new North America segment president plus a CEO 10b5-1 plan covering up to 136,968 shares.
How filings like this one have moved
In the 30 days to Oct 28, 2026, 30.7% of the 1698 measured filings Wiseek scored 7 moved their stock by 5% or more by the next session's close. The median move was 0.00%. These are measured outcomes after filings of this importance, not a forecast for this one.
Measured one observation per ticker per day, after exclusions. Current figures: Filing Impact Tracker · open dataset
At the time of this filing, KO was trading at $91.68 on NYSE in the Manufacturing sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $394.5B. The 52-week trading range was $67.27 to $95.37. This filing was assessed with neutral market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10.