PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), major rival of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), is letting the investing world know that it's doing fine. In one of the shortest press releases I've ever read, management at the beverage maker let shareholders in on the fact that it intends to reiterate guidance at The Deutsche Bank Global Consumer and Food Retail Conference that takes place next week in Paris. PepsiCo believes it's still good for $3.72 per share in earnings for the fiscal year.

When the world seems to be heading for the dark pits of economic hell, it's nice to know that PepsiCo expects to be able to stay the course and deliver on an earlier forecast. After all, with all this talk of inflation, one would have to wonder how companies like PepsiCo and Coke can possibly remain stable given the difficult input-cost environment. The big question on my mind is how high these two companies might rise during the summer, since they are considered defensive plays. They didn't seem defensive at all on Wednesday during the Dow's 200-point bleed, but my gut is telling me they might be good short-term plays.

They certainly are excellent long-term plays, and while I own Coke, I'll concede that right now, in terms of P/E ratios and dividend yields, an investor wouldn't go wrong with either. And, yes, I'll further concede that one gets an added bonus with PepsiCo since it owns the strong Frito-Lay salty-snack business. But with both stocks down over the last six months (As of this writing, PepsiCo is down more than 11% for the six-month period while Coke is down more than 9%), and with problems in the markets, they might be interesting ideas right now. Again, though, the effect of input costs must be part of your due diligence before buying.

Disclosure: I own shares of Coke; positions can change at any time.