LONDON--(Marketwire - February 14, 2013) - The food and beverage sector has been at the forefront of traders' minds this week, with the world's largest soft drinks maker Coca-Cola announcing results on Tuesday, 12 February, and peer PepsiCo reporting later today.

Coca-Cola shares fell following its results announcement, with the company missing analyst expectations for fourth quarter revenues. Revenues grew 4% to $11.46 billion, missing consensus forecasts for a sharper rise to $11.53 billion. Despite the miss, Coca-Cola remains confident that it will meet its full-year global volume growth targets of between 3% and 4%. Analysts are widely expecting PepsiCo to announce a 0.8% rise in revenue to $19.7 billion, and a 9% slide in earnings per share to $1.05 -- its fourth consecutive quarter of declining profit growth.

The Pepsi Challenge

If PepsiCo's results slide below analyst estimates, this could disappoint investors and put downward pressure on the stock, pushing prices lower in the coming days. However, if the results beat expectations, this could have a positive impact on Pepsi's share price.

Spread betting can be a great way of taking advantage of the share price moves of companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, especially during earnings season. With spread betting, you can make a profit irrespective of whether a company's share price moves up or down. If you expect prices to rise, you go long or buy the company's shares. If, however, you expected shares to fall, you simple need to go short or sell the company's shares. If you were right and prices move in the direction you had anticipated, you would net a profit. However, if prices move against you, you would net a loss that could exceed your initial deposit if you do not manage your risk.

To potentially profit from any positive or negative price movement in PepsiCo shares when it posts results today, all you need to do is determine whether you expect prices to rise or fall following the results announcement and take a position accordingly.

Find out more about spread betting with financial spread betting provider City Index.

With spread betting your losses are magnified in the same way as your gains if the market moves against you and can result in losses exceeding your initial outlay. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved.

Contact:

Joshua Raymond

City Index

+44(0)20-7107-7002

[email protected]