Last year, Coca-Cola (KO) acquired Coca-Cola Enterprises' North American bottling operations. In addition, volume in North America rose 3%, excluding acquisitions and the currency impacts. These two factors gave the company an outstanding quarter. The company has taken market share from its rival PepsiCo (PEP).

Coca-Cola reported Wednesday earnings of $5.77 billion, or $2.46 a share, up from $1.54, or 66 cents per share, a year ago, according to The Wall Street Journal. Excluding benefits from bottling acquisition, earnings were 72 cents a share. Revenues increased 40% to $10.5 billion, and were up 45% excluding currency impacts. Gross margins fell to 59.2% from 64.7%.

If you are looking for clues telling you which stocks have a good chance of increasing in value, you might want consider watching what insiders are doing. After all, talk is cheap, but when insiders put their own money on the line, you should sit up and take note.

Coca-Cola (KO) topped the insider-buying charts for the week ending July 9th as insiders snapped up 270,000 shares of company stock at a market value of $16,899,786. During the past six months, insiders have increased their overall holdings in the company by 3.15% and now own 0.55% of KO stock.

If you are looking for clues telling you which stocks have a good chance of increasing in value, you might want consider watching what insiders are doing. After all, talk is cheap, but when insiders put their own money on the line, you should sit up and take note.

GTx Inc. (GTXI) topped the insider-buying charts for the week ending July 9 as insiders snapped up 5,467,860 shares of company stock at a market value of $15,310,008. During the past six months, insiders have increased their overall holdings in the company by 2.72% and now own 71.44% of GTXI stock.

Beverage firm Coca-Cola (KO) announced that its third-quarter earnings came in better than the consensus estimate. For the quarter, Coke brought in 88 cents per share ($2.06 billion), or 92 cents per share excluding items. The consensus estimate called for earnings of 89 cents per share.

Turning to revenue, Coke saw a 5% increase to $8.43 billion. The company noted that its integration efforts are "well on track," stressing its savings target of at least $350 million per year. These savings will be implemented during the next four years.

Shares of the world's largest soft drink maker, Coca-Cola Company (KO), are trading lower this morning, despite better-than-expected earnings for the company's first quarter.

Analysts had forecast earnings of 74 cents per share, and the company outpaced estimates with reported earnings of 80 cents per share, excluding special items. The company reported earnings of 64 cents per share during the same period last year.

Coca-Cola's Q3 earnings of 83 cents per share beat the First Call Q3 EPS consensus estimate of 82 cents per share, and, of course, Wall Street drove the shares lower on the morning of the announcement.

Most likely, the above selling stems merely from short-term institutional investors (IIs) exiting the stock, which is why I'm reiterating my Buy rating for The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), first recommended on February 15, 2009 at a price of $42.68.

Facebook is making the biggest ad splash since Google, according to an article in the Financial Times.

More than four-fifths of the largest advertisers in the United States have turned to the social networking platform to promote their wares -- after several years of fearing these types of communities. The lure of Facebook must have been too much to resist, with 340 million monthly unique visitors. Now, it's not unusual to see the likes of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Nike (NYSE: NKE), and AT&T (NYSE: ATT) advertising in this world.

Back in September, I wrote about the Coca Cola Co.'s (NYSE: KO) offer to acquire Beijing-based China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd, China's number one 100% juice and nectar company for $2.4 billion.

But almost immediately, there were questions about whether the deal would ever be consummated. Steve Mallas wrote that the acquisition would "be the first case presented under a new antitrust law put into effect by China a little over a month ago. Traders have sent shares of China Huiyuan Juice Group lower under speculation that the transaction is not a sure bet."

I found a very interesting article while surfing one of the greatest sports blogs on the Web, Deadspin. According to The Brown Daily Herald, the NCAA has sent out an email to coaches and student-athletes informing them that some flavors of Vitaminwater are banned under the body's rules. According to an organization that conducts drug testing for some NCAA schools, six of the 15 flavors of Vitaminwater "contain common stimulates or other psychoactive chemicals that could be problematic for both the University and the student-athletes."

The article made me think back to some baseball players (not A-Roid or Baroid) who have blamed their positive tests on supplements and unknown ingredients (and for fairness, I think some football players used this "dog ate my homework" style defense as well). I just wonder if any of them sampled Vitaminwater ahead of their tests. However, back to the problem.

Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) has come up with a novel marketing message. Drinking Coke can make you happy in hard times.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Coca-Cola is launching a new global ad campaign for its iconic cola, hoping to appeal to consumers' longing for comfort and optimism at a time when the weakening economy is sapping soft-drink sales."

How subtle. And, to think it might work. Most people are not boobs and the obvious nature of the message is not likely to be lost on anyone, but who would not like a little ray of sunshine on a cloudy day? To some extent the new message is just an extension of the decades-long philosophy behind advertising Coke. It has always been about feeling good, sharing a soda with friends, and enjoying life

The fact that the drink is pure sugar and stimulates the brain has nothing to do with it. Neither does the experience of an energy "crash" when the sugar wears off.

Go ahead and hug yourself, have a Coke, and don't worry that you are out of work.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Blue-chip soda titan Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) slipped into the red this morning after Standard & Poor's last night revised the company's outlook to "negative." The ratings change also affects the Dow component's two main bottling units, Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE: CCE) and Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling (NYSE: CCH). Analyst Jean Stout noted, "Weak economic conditions in select markets and volatile commodity costs have pressured the Coke system's operating performance."

Currently, Coca-Cola's S&P rating is "A+," the fifth-highest investment-grade notch. The downwardly revised outlook indicates that the rating is in danger of being cut over the next one to two years. In response to S&P's "negative" label, CCE postponed pricing a previously announced, $1 billion bond issue.

Stout added that "reduced share repurchases at Coke could restore some financial flexibility to the Coke system," but warned, "weakening macroeconomic conditions, as well as further acquisitions at Coke, CCE, or CCHB will likely further weaken Coke system credit measures."

Almost a year ago, when Steve Halpern suggested that investors take a second look at Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), he offered a very sound argument: the manufacturer had a strong domestic and international presence, was trading well and -- perhaps most importantly -- was heavily involved in staples. Over the ensuing year, Halpern's advice has proven to be pretty strong. In fact, on September 29, when the bottom was falling out of the market, P&G was one of the three stocks in the S&P 500 that fell the least.

P&G, as well as the other two stocks that fell the least, Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) and Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE: CCE), and the one S&P stock that actually rose, Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) have a few things in common. First off, they all are connected to products that make people feel safe. These sorts of brands (which Kevin Roberts calls Lovemarks) are almost recession-proof. When things get bad and people lose faith in the market, they experience an ever-greater desire to reach for a Coke and a smile, grab a bowl of "Mmm! Mmm! Good!" Campbell's soup and eat a plate of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Given their ability to evoke memories of a comforting childhood, these mid-level brands will often experience an uptick in troubling times.

The other thing that all these companies have in common is that they are staples. In boom times, people tend to eat out more, subcontract cleaning and laundry services, and try pricier, upscale brands. In tougher times, however, the tendency to eat in and do one's own laundry means that companies like Kraft, Coca-Cola and P&G may actually find themselves in a better financial position. This isn't to say that staples don't have ups and downs, but rather that their fluctuations tend to be less severe -- and they sometimes even buck the prevailing market trends!

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) has offered [subscription required] to acquire Beijing-based China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd, China's number one 100% juice and nectar company. The deal, which would be the second largest in Coke's history (behind Vitamin Water), would require the approval of Chinese regulators.

Coke says the deal would be accretive to earnings in third year -- but of course there are lies, damn lies, and forward-looking statements. The deal represents a continuation of Coke's efforts to diversify away from the declining soft drink industry and into higher-priced, more natural beverages.

The question is whether Coke will be able to add meaningfully to the value of these brands with its own marketing and distribution power. If Coke is just pumping up its sales by adding brands at high prices, that's probably not a good strategy for long-term shareholder value. Very few companies have been able to create such value through acquisitions, and Coke's shopping spree should be seen as a sign of increasing weakness in the company's current businesses.

Coca Cola (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) better look out. Red Bull GmbH, the Austrian company behind bestselling energy drink and household name Red Bull, wants to try its hand at selling cola. The new drink, shown at right, will launch in seven countries over the next several months, with the US launch slated for June, according [subscription required] to the Wall Street Journal.

According to BrandWeek, "Unlike Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Red Bull Cola will be 100% natural and command a premium price. Its formula will consist of kola nut and coca leaf."

The all-natural formula could be a big advantage for Red Bull,wcreating the perception of a more healthy beverage in the same way that vitaminwater became a big hit among people looking to drink healthier, in spite of being pretty high in calories.

Will Red Bull have success? That's hard to say without knowing what it tastes like, but with a strong brand and rapid growth, Red Bull could present the most serious challenge to the cola leadership of Coke and Pepsi in a long time -- possibly ever.

With Coke and Pepsi both experiencing significant declines in sales last year, this could be the perfect time to kick them while they're down.

As Mel Brooks once said, "It's good to be the king." I often fantasize being a politician just for what it's worth after leaving office. We learned this week that Al Gore is now at least a centi-millionaire -- yes, he's worth over $100 million. That's a lot of global warming tacos.

An interesting exclusive article on Bloomberg.com is titled, "Pfizer, Exxon Find U.S. Justices as Shareholders May Cost Them." The premise of the article is that Supreme Court Justices' ownership of stocks occasionally requires them to side-step rulings, like this week's deadlock that allowed lawsuits over Pfizer's Rezulin diabetes drug. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts owns the stock and needed to sit on the sidelines.

The same article cited Mark Herrmann, a product-liability lawyer at Jones Day in Chicago, as saying, "If you're on the industry side, it kills you that Roberts recused himself. That's your fifth vote.''

Bloomberg cites stocks either currently held or sold from in Chief Justice Roberts portfolio. They are: