4 Consumer Stock Stories for a Friday

PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP): Closing price $72.49

In response to complaints from its customers, PepsiCo is removing a controversial ingredient from its Gatorade sports drink. Spokeswoman for the firm Molly Carter reported Friday that the removal of brominated vegetable oil has been being readied over the past year, subsequent to PepsiCo “hearing rumblings” from consumers about the ingredient. However, she said it was not a reaction to a recent petition on Change.org by a teenager in Mississippi. Brominated vegetable oil is also used in other drinks, such as certain flavors of Powerade, made by competitor Coca-Cola Co., which has not yet said if it would remove the ingredient from Powerade as well.

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