Coca-Cola third-quarter profit tops by a penny

Coca-Cola Co reported a third-quarter profit that topped Wall Street estimates by a penny, helped by higher sales volume and cost cuts.

The world's largest soft drink maker said on Tuesday that net income rose slightly to $1.90 billion, or 81 cents per share, from $1.89 billion, or 81 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding a charge, Coca-Cola earned 82 cents per share. Analysts on average were expecting 81 cents, excluding items, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net operating revenue fell 4 percent to $8.04 billion.

Sales by volume rose 2 percent.

Coke's broad geographic footprint, especially in developing markets such as India and China, is helping it weather a slowdown in the United States.

The company's shares were down 0.4 percent at $54.60 in trading before the market opened.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)