Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (NYSE: PBG), the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of Pepsi-Cola beverages, is scheduled to discuss its second quarter 2009 results tomorrow morning in a conference call at 11:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

For the quarter in which Pepsi Bottling Group saw a buyout offer from PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) and completed an acquisition of its own, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.73 per share, which is a nickel per share lower than in the same period of the previous year, as well as in line with previous guidance. Revenue for the quarter is expected to be 2.0% lower to $3.5 billion. The dividend-paying company has topped earnings estimates in the five past quarters, by as much as a nickle per share.

The second half of the calendar year has begun, and earnings return to the spotlight this week. As usual, Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) is among the first of the S&P 500 to report quarterly results. For the second quarter in which Alcoa agreed to sell its wire harness and electrical distribution business and its fastening systems business expanded into Morocco, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the New York-based aluminum producer to report swinging to a net loss of $0.34 per share from a profit of $0.66 per share in the year-ago period. Second quarter revenue is expected to have fallen 48.3% to $3.9 billion. The full-year forecast is currently for a loss of $1.04 per share and revenue of $16.7 billion (-38.0%). Alcoa has missed expectations in the past three quarters, by as much as 17 cents per share. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 10.0%, which is better than the sector average. Alcoa slashed its dividend earlier this year, and the First Call consensus recommendation remains to hold AA. However, TheStreet.com recommends it as an against-the-grain pick. At $9.86, shares are down 12.4% since the beginning of the year, and recently have been bumping up against the 200-day moving average.

As can be seen, if Stifel Nicolaus turns out to be right, then traders might have a winning transaction on their hands. But one thing that must be remembered is the arbitrage game going on here. Pepsi wants to buy Pepsi Bottling Group. The latter is, of course, arguing for a higher purchase price.

One of the great marketing triumphs of the late 20th century was bottled water. Turning a commodity into a retail product uncapped huge revenue for companies such as Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Pepsico (NYSE:PEP). The question now, however, is how fragile is the business? A troubling trend has top restaurants taking bottled water off of their menus due to environmental concerns.

According to CNN Money's Martinne Geller, New York's Del Posto restaurant and other restaurants owned by Joseph Bastianich are discontinuing bottled water, citing the resources squandered in transporting waters long distances. Perrier, for example, must be shipped from its source in Vergaze, France. 86% of all water bottles end up in the landfill. A study by the Pacific Institute's Peter H. Gleick and Heather Cooly found that bottled water required up to 2,000 times more energy to deliver than tap water.

I've been pretty stunned by the rise in price. Usually, the stock is a sleepy thing that doesn't do much. Well, that's probably not entirely true, but if you've held the company in your portfolio as long as I've held it in mine, you know that it seems that way at least. I own Coke for the long-term because I love its dividend-paying characteristics. And I love its brand equity. I'm wondering, though, if Coke might make a good trade at the moment. Or, maybe I should start adding to my position before it takes too sharp a rise.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) popped open its first-quarter report on Wednesday (I bet you never read that pun before from a financial pundit covering a beverage concern!). On an adjusted basis, sales rose 4%. Management needed to adjust for the termination of a contract with Hansen (NASDAQ: HANS), as well as for currency effects. The company saw a drop in bottom-line income excluding items as earnings came in at $0.37 per share. This was $0.03 less than last year's performance.

However, Dr Pepper can feel happy about the fact that the company beat expectations. The market was only looking for $0.29 per share. How refreshing (yep, another pun)! Volumes did all right during the quarter.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) reported strong Q1 results easily beat expectations.
• Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings, helped by home refinancing.
• Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) reported its first quarterly loss since 1992 and cut its revenue outlook.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) posted Q1 earnings that were in line with expectations, but shares fell.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings despite a decline in sales.

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) reported first-quarter earnings on Tuesday morning. By the end of the day, the main enemy of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) was down 2.8% on better-than-average volume. Coke said that it earned 65 cents per share on an adjusted basis. According to Beth Gaston Moon's earnings preview, management met Wall Street's expectations.

So, right off the bat, you can see why the market wasn't so kind to Coke's shares. Meeting expectations isn't enough sometimes. But there are some other issues here, too.

Revenue was kind of soft, and a look at the statement of cash flows shows a decrease in money generated from operations. That number decreased over 20% to roughly $870 million.

We're in the heat of earnings season, with many of the top 100 S&P 500 companies reporting this week. One name that slightly fizzled at its earnings report today was PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP), which announced first-quarter net results of $1.14 billion, or 72 cents per share, a 0.9% decline from previous year's levels.

On the plus side, the per-share result was a nickel better than analysts were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue, on the other hand, slipped 0.8% lower to $8.26 billion, falling shy of expectations for $8.28 billion.

While the numbers didn't exactly wow the Street (PEP shares are slightly lower in early trading), they also didn't illustrate a significant fall-off from the previous year, despite company warnings that the first half of 2009 would face challenging year-over-year comparisons amid rising commodity costs and shifting foreign exchange rates.

I hope the following article out on Reuters isn't wholly accurate. I can see the logic of what's being reported, however. According to the item, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) could be reducing the valuable real estate in its stores that is devoted to bottled water from popular brands. This includes The Coca-Cola Company's (NYSE: KO) Dasani and PepsiCo, Inc.'s (NYSE: PEP) Aquafina. This observation is being sourced to analyst Bill Pecoriello of ConsumerEdge Research. He believes that Wal-Mart might be trying to focus on the value consumer by offering more shelf space to generic brands.

The war between Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) is becoming as fierce as the fight between the two monsters in the classic Japanese flick War of the Gargantuas (don't tell me you don't remember that one!).

This time, the conflict is over the duo's respective sports drinks. According to Bloomberg, PepsiCo believes that Coke has been promoting its Powerade beverage by issuing false claims against PepsiCo's Gatorade.

The announcement by Mickey D's ends an experiment where the fast-food chain offered bottled Pepsi beverages, including Mountain Dew, Gatorade, and Lipton tea, to consumers in several test markets. After the apparently underwhelming response from McDonald's clientele, Pepsi spokesman Larry Jabbonsky chalked up the experience to "a great opportunity and a great learning experience."

"PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) Pepsi is about as dependable a company as there is and the stock would be an excellent anchor for most portfolios," says value investor Nathan Slaughter.

In his Half-Priced Stocks, he says, "All told, PepsiCo has built an impressive lineup of 18 brands that each generate more than $1 billion in annual sales."

"Long ago, management realized that carbonated drink sales would fizzle out and per-capita consumption would become sluggish. In their place, bottled water and sports drinks became two of the fastest-growing categories. And Pepsi is the dominant player in both, with its Aquafina and Gatorade brands.

"Meanwhile, energy drinks have emerged as the industry's hottest segment -- with sales soaring from $1.2 billion in 2002 to more than $6.6 billion last year. Again, Pepsi is well-represented with Amp.

The women's movement is an uphill battle of Sisyphean proportions, with every step forward (the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act) quickly negated by five steps back (the movie Bride Wars). I've been a feminist since I was old enough to be argumentative, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the latest move by PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP). The parent company of Fritos, Doritos, and Lay's announced Thursday that it's launching its first snack food targeted specifically toward women. Uhh ... progress?

So, if Pepsi is right, the answer to Sigmund Freud's famous query, "What do women want?" is, "Popcorn." Seriously. The company plans to debut its new Smartfood popcorn clusters in March. The snack combines salty flavors with sweet, and -- prepare to be not at all shocked -- the popcorn clusters are low-calorie. You know, because we're all on diets and we hate our thighs.

If you're a shareholder of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), you got some great news on Thursday. The arch rival of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) increased its dividend by 8%. The quarterly payout changes from $0.38 per share to $0.41 per share. Simply marvelous (and, yes, I am a shareholder).

Coca-Cola can easily afford to increase its dividend. It's got the cash flow to back it up. For the full fiscal year, Coke increased its operational cash flow by 6%, coming in at $7.6 billion. Capital expenditures, plus acquisitions and investments, totaled roughly $2.8 billion. The amount of dividends paid to shareholders in 2008 was about $3.5 billion. As can be seen, Coke has enough of the green stuff to up its dividend by a high single-digit percentage. Heck, I was hoping for a 10% increase. Management could have done it, it would have amounted to an extra penny, but I'm okay with this.