We recently published a list of 10 Best Performing Long Term Stocks So Far in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) stands against other best performing long term stocks so far in 2025.

Consumer morale fell more drastically than expected in April, owing to a surge in inflation expectations to unprecedented levels. According to the central bank’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations, respondents expect inflation to reach 3.6% within a year, up 0.5 percentage points from February and the highest since October 2023. This increase in inflation fears was coupled by increased labor market unease, the assessed possibility that unemployment will rise in a year, surging to 44%. This represents a 4.6-point increase and the highest reading since the COVID-19 outbreak began in April 2020.

The survey results come amid growing concern over the possible economic impact of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs. Many on Wall Street say they would fuel inflation and stifle economic development, while some analysts even fear that the United States may enter a recession within the next year. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials have expressed differing views, with some worrying that adjustments in consumer expectations might have immediate economic effects if they impact behavior.

Conversely, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller remarked on April 14 that he anticipates the effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on prices to be “transitory,” using a word that landed the central bank in hot water during the previous bout of inflation. Waller believes the market could swing two different ways, stating that greater and longer-lasting tariffs would cause a larger inflation jump initially to 4% to 5%, which would later recede as the economy slowed and unemployment soared. In the other, smaller-tariff scenario, inflation would approach approximately 3% and then fall off. Waller added the following:

“Yes, I am saying that I expect that elevated inflation would be temporary, and ‘temporary’ is another word for transitory. Despite the fact that the last surge of inflation beginning in 2021 lasted longer than I and other policymakers initially expected, my best judgment is that higher inflation from tariffs will be temporary.”

However, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari has other concerns. The 10-year Treasury yield rose in the second week of this month after Trump stated his plans to impose a 10% tax on all U.S. trade partners and threatened to apply tougher, selective levies before backing down on April 9. At the same time, the dollar has fallen more than 3% compared to a basket of global currencies, perhaps signaling a shift away from safe-haven US assets. This is what Kashkari had to say:

“Investors around the world have viewed America as the best place to invest, and if that’s true, we will have a trade deficit. So now one of the ways that expresses itself is in lower yields across asset classes in America. If the trade deficit is going to go down, it could be that investors are saying, OK, America no longer is the most attractive place in the world to invest, and then you would expect to see bond yields go up.”

Our Methodology

For this list, we sifted through financial media reports and compiled a list of equities that are frequently referred to as long-term investments. We then chose the 10 stocks that were most popular among elite hedge funds and those that analysts were optimistic about. The names on this list appear in increasing order by the number of hedge funds that hold them as of Q4 2024.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

A row of factory workers assembling bottles of sparkling soft drinks on a conveyor belt.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)

Year-to-date performance as of April 12: 15.59%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 81

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is a multinational beverage company that manufactures, develops, and distributes a wide range of nonalcoholic beverages. Its dominance stretches well beyond the beverage brand that shares its name. The company’s product line includes bottled milk, coffee, tea, and juice.

Piper Sandler recently boosted its price target for The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) shares to $80, citing 5-6% organic revenue growth in 2025 and retaining an Overweight rating on the company. Similarly, Erste Group raised Coca-Cola’s stock rating from Hold to Buy, noting solid profitability and ambitious growth prospects, including organic sales growth of 5-6% year-over-year. Despite these positive appraisals, Coca-Cola, like other big beverage companies, faces potential obstacles from a planned soda purchase ban with food stamps, which might reduce sales.

On a more positive note, The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) has announced a 5.2% increase in its quarterly dividend, marking the 63rd consecutive year of dividend increases. The annual dividend is currently set at $2.04 per share.

Overall, KO ranks 4th on our list of best performing long term stocks so far in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential for KO as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%.  If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than KO but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.