Key Points
Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) was the victim of a cyberattack, and that news spooked the company’s many investors as the trading week came to a close. The beverage giant’s shares lost 4% of their value on Friday following the company’s announcement of the hack.
Unfairly targeted
After market close on Thursday, Coca-Cola divulged that one of its subsidiaries, dairy beverage company fairlife, had been the victim of “unauthorized access by a third party to a portion of its systems,” in connection with a ransomware situation.
Coca-Cola said that, upon detection, it activated its incident response and business continuity protocols. It has also temporarily suspended the production of fairlife in the U.S., although not (for the moment) at the brand’s Canada production facilities. It added that it continues to investigate and assess the impact of the breach, and has notified law enforcement.
fairlife produces a range of ultra-filtered milk products and other next-generation dairy offerings. According to its figures, its annual revenue tops $3 billion.
Still a fizzy company
Coca-Cola didn’t provide any estimates on the potential economic impact of the hack and the subsequent shutdown. Zooming out, however, the company has a massive collection of beverage brands, many of which post significantly higher sales than the rather niche fairlife.
If I were a Coca-Cola investor, I wouldn’t spend much time worrying about lasting financial or operational damage to the company’s overall business.
Should you buy stock in Coca-Cola right now?
Before you buy stock in Coca-Cola, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Coca-Cola wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $400,964!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,272,955!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 930% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 210% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
