Kraft Heinz vs. PepsiCo: Consumer Staples Stocks Don't Guarantee Steady Revenue Growth

Kraft Heinz: Maintaining a Mostly Flat Revenue Trend

Kraft Heinz Inc. (NYSE:KHC) generates its revenue by manufacturing and distributing a broad spectrum of grocery staples, including condiments, cheeses, prepared meals, and packaged beverages, to retail markets, wholesale providers, and institutional foodservice clients across various international markets.

It recently transitioned its primary corporate stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange, while also partnering with other consumer brands to launch several flavor collaborations and a new ready-to-eat soup collection.

PepsiCo: Seasonal Revenue Reaches Consistently Higher Peaks

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) earns its revenue through a global distribution network that actively supplies wholesale partners, convenience stores, grocery chains, and direct consumers with a broad catalog of snack foods, pantry staples, and branded beverage concentrates.

It recently finalized an eleven-year beverage partnership extension with Taco Bell for the United States market, and it simultaneously executed a series of bottling facility closures across multiple states.

Why Revenue Matters for Investors

Revenue here refers to the data provider's standardized income-statement revenue line item, serving as a fundamental and baseline measurement for financial analysis because it reveals exactly how much total money a business brings in before accounting for any operational expenses, debt obligations, or taxes.

Kraft Heinz vs. PepsiCo Revenue over the last 8 quarters. Note: for Q4 2025, the two companies' reporting periods differ in length by more than 14 days due to differing fiscal calendars, which can make the change between quarters look bigger or smaller than an apples-to-apples comparison would show.

Comparing Quarterly Revenue for Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo

Foolish Take

Normally, the first thing to note when examining a company's revenue trend is seasonality: some times of the year have stronger buying patterns than others. For most stocks, compare revenue year over year, by quarter. In normal times, that holds true for consumer staples stocks like these as well, given that most products from both companies aren’t staples in the true sense—people will buy more soda and snacks, such as PepsiCo’s Funyuns, at different times of the year.

That said, this chart shows two diverging trends. PepsiCo is growing revenue over time. There is year-over-year seasonality as you read the chart left to right for PepsiCo, but there is growth when comparing the same quarters of the fiscal years.

By comparison, Kraft Heinz is showing a lack of sales momentum. Compare the most recent bar for the company in the chart, for Q1 2026, to Q1 2025—revenue is level. That’s stagnation.

Revenue is perhaps the simplest metric investors have to judge a business by. As the chart shows, look for rising revenue, especially over similar periods of each year, and take comparable quarter stagnation, or worse, declines, as a red flag.

Data source: Financial Modeling Prep. Note: For Q4 2025, the two companies' reporting periods differ in length by more than 14 days due to differing fiscal calendars, which can make the change between quarters look bigger or smaller than an apples-to-apples comparison would show. Data as of Oct. 22, 2026.

Brendan Coffey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Kraft Heinz. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.