Coke – The One and Only May 2, 1997March 25, 2012 The market capitalization of the Coca Cola Company (KO) flirts with $150 billion as we speak. (You don’t think we’re speaking? Can you honestly say you didn’t utter an audible "wow" when you read that last sentence? So did I. We’re speaking.) The market capitalization of all the publicly traded companies in Russia is about $50 billion. I’m not saying you should sell Coke if you own it in a taxable account — though you might want to write some covered calls against it. And I’m not saying you should invest in Russia (although I’m happy to have said it in the past, when it was even dramatically cheaper than today). But looking at the two side by side makes you wonder. Even with a billion additional consumers being added to the planet every dozen years — most of whom will be born craving Coke, one presumes — could Coke really be a bargain at $150 billion? Could Russian stocks, while obviously very risky, not still represent an interesting speculation?