7 companies · median 25 of 36 checks · prices as of 2026-10-23
Food and beverage stocks.
Sorted by how many checks each one passes. Sort by any column to see who is cheapest, who is growing, or who has the strongest balance sheet - and how that compares with what is normal for the industry.
Ranked by checks passed
7 companies in this sector→The food and beverage companies we cover are not one trade: Coca-Cola (KO) passes 27 of its 36 checks and Beyond Meat (BYND) passes 6, with a median of 25.
→KO, PEP, MNST are 90% of the $745.5B we cover here, so a sector average says more about them than about the rest.
| Save | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Coca-ColaKOSells concentrate and syrup to bottlers for the world's best-known drinks.Report | -2.8% | +34.4% | 1 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 27/36 | |
 PepsiCoPEPSells Pepsi, Gatorade and the Frito-Lay and Quaker snack brands.Report | -2.2% | -7.7% | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 27/36 | |
 Monster BeverageMNSTSells Monster energy drinks, distributed mostly by Coca-Cola bottlers.Report | -2.4% | +32.5% | 0 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 26/36 | |
 HersheyHSYSells Hershey's and Reese's chocolate and a growing snacks business.Report | -3.4% | -5.1% | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 25/36 | |
 CelsiusCELHSells Celsius energy drinks, distributed by PepsiCo.Report | +0.4% | -53.8% | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 21/36 | |
 Kraft HeinzKHCSells Heinz ketchup, Kraft cheese and a portfolio of packaged food brands.Report | -1.2% | +3.3% | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 16/36 | |
 Beyond MeatBYNDSells plant-based meat substitutes to grocers and restaurants, and has yet to turn a profit.Report | -1.7% | -93.3% | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6/36 |
The filings behind this table close between 2026-06-27 and 2026-09-05, because these companies do not share a fiscal calendar; prices are the close of 2026-10-23. Each name links to its full report; every score is a count of pass-or-fail checks read from that company's own filings.
Where the sector falls short
median score per axis→Value is where the food and beverage companies we cover come up short most often, at a median of 3 of 6, while Quality runs at 6.
| Value | ●●●○○○ | 3 of 6 |
| Growth | ●●●○○○ | 3 of 6 |
| Quality | ●●●●●● | 6 of 6 |
| Financial health | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
| Shareholder returns | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
| Trend | ●●●○○○ | 3 of 6 |
What a normal margin looks like here
sector percentiles · 52 filers→Gross margin clusters among food and beverage companies, from 22% to 37% across the middle of the field, with a midpoint of 30% measured over 52 filers.
| Metric | Bottom third | Midpoint | Top third |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin n=52 | 21.8% | 29.7% | 36.5% |
| Operating margin n=52 | 3.3% | 6.9% | 11.0% |
| Net margin n=55 | 0.9% | 4.3% | 7.6% |
| Return on equity n=48 | 2.6% | 9.5% | 16.1% |
Who grows, and who keeps it
every company in the industry→HSY, MNST do both: growing faster than this industry's middle and keeping more of each sale than it does. The industry's middle is 3% growth on a 6% margin. KHC, BYND do neither.
A year of price
not a fact about the business→3 of 7 are up over twelve months and the median move is -5.1% - Coca-Cola (KO) at +34.4% against Beyond Meat (BYND) at -93.3%. Price is not a fact about a business, and the Trend chapter of each report says what it is measured on.
Head to head
3 pairsThe table above gives the order. These put two of them in one column each, so you can see where the difference actually is.