Coca-Cola vs. PepsiCo: How a $10,000 bet split into a $9,012 gap over 5 years
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 1, 2026.
Five years of the cola wars left a $9,012 gap: $10,000 in Coca-Cola is now $18,689, while the same bet on PepsiCo is worth $9,677, still underwater.
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Starting from the same $10,000 on October 1, 2021, Coca-Cola turned that stake into $18,689 while PepsiCo left investors with $9,677. The original PepsiCo investment is still underwater after five full years.
The two stocks moved in rough lockstep early in the period before the paths separated. Coca-Cola climbed while PepsiCo endured a prolonged slide that erased all of its gains and then some, finishing at a total return of negative 3.2%.
For a consumer-staples investor, the gap carries a very real cost. A $9,012 difference on a single $10,000 starting position is the kind of outcome more commonly associated with volatile growth stocks than with two of the most recognizable beverage brands on the planet.
A 0.97x multiple on a five-year hold in a supposedly safe blue-chip stock is the number that income-oriented investors will find hardest to set aside.