Coca-Cola profit rises for third quarter

ATLANTA - Coca-Cola Company&#39;s earnings rose 8.5 percent in the third quarter but the company says its results for the year may come in slightly below Wall Street expectations. <br> <br> Coke, the world&#39;s largest beverage company, announced this morning that it earned $1.16 billion, or 47 cents per share during the July-September period. That&#39;s up from up from $1.07 billion, or 43 cents per share in the same quarter last year. <br> <br> Excluding a one cent a share charge, the latest results were in line with the consensus forecast of 48 cents a share by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. <br> <br> Revenue rose to $5.32 billion dollars in the quarter from $4.7 billion a year ago. <br> <br> Douglas Daft, Coke&#39;s chairman and chief executive, said the company may fall a penny or two short of annual earnings estimates of $1.78 per share. <br> <br> The company blamed the problems on -- ``extremely poor weather conditions&#39;&#39; in Europe and Asia and on Coke&#39;s decision to begin counting stock option awards as compensatory expenses. That change became effective this month.

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