Coca-Cola (KO) Stock Higher After Hours, Halts Production in Venezuela

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Coca-Cola (KO) - Get Report are up by 0.17% to $43.06 in after-hours trading Monday, the Atlanta-based beverage giant is halting production in Venezuela.

Along with other basic product manufacturers such as Kraft Heinz (HNZ) and Clorox (CLX), Coca-Cola joins a group of raw material producers essentially going extinct in Venezuela, which is bogged down by currency controls, goods shortages and the world's highest inflation rate, according to Bloomberg.

"Sugar suppliers in Venezuela have informed us that they will temporarily cease operations," Kerry Tressler, a Coca-Cola spokeswoman, tells Bloomberg. The company says it is working on a solution.

Venezuela is seeing its worst recession in decades due to falling prices in oil, which makes up 95% of foreign currency earnings. Rising political tensions are also strapping the country with issues surrounding a recall referendum on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, Bloomberg states.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings rated Coca-Cola as a "buy" with a score of A-.

TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon.

Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that are rated.

The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its notable return on equity, solid stock price performance and expanding profit margins.

TheStreet Ratings feels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: KO