Excessive analysis may have caused us to wait. So far, that analysis would have been wrong. The stock trades at 35 times earnings estimates for 1998. Coca-Cola is, surprisingly, not owned by a vast amount of mutual funds in large amounts. Berkshire Hathaway is by far the largest holder.
People know a good business model and are reluctant to sell it.
A Fool emailed me asking if he'd done something unFoolish by beginning to DRIP into Coca-Cola at these prices. I've spent the last few days writing a 3,000 word overview of the soft drink beverage industry for a year-end product that will begin to sell around December 15. We cover some twenty industries and then suggest one stock in each. In April of last year the world population was 5.7 billion. But this column isn't supposed to be about Coca-Cola and the merits of it as a possible investment.