Things are about to go better with Coke.

Like McDonald’s MCD, -1.03% , Coca-Cola KO, -0.19% has been hurt as consumers avoid sugary drinks and processed foods to lose weight.

This challenge, along with other problems like the strong dollar and economic weakness in Europe and emerging markets, has produced less-than-bubbly sales and earnings growth at Coke. The company’s stock is down 4.4% this year and has been in the low end of its $40-$45 trading range for the past half year.

But Coke is fighting back. The drinks giant is in a mini-turnaround, selling off bottlers and cutting costs. Meanwhile, it’s using its marketing moxie, brand power and global distribution network to build out non-carbonated drink offerings. It’s also raising prices in North America without alienating customers.

For those reasons and a few others we’ll get to in a second, I think the recent insider purchases of Coke shares are a cue to add this stock to your portfolio. Two insiders bought almost a half a million dollars worth of stock in February at around $42.

“For the first time in a long while, the company is addressing the clear challenges, especially in developed markets,” says Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Bill Schmitz Jr., who has a “buy” rating on the stock.

Sarah Henry, senior research officer at Manulife Asset Management, likes Coca-Cola because it offers a nice combination of offense and defense, which you don’t always see in a single stock. It’s a growth story via new products, emerging-markets exposure and the mini-turnaround. It’s defensive as a consumer-staples stock with a wide economic moat, thanks to the brand power and global distribution network. Those would be hard to replicate.

Warren Buffett loves protective moats, and that’s why his Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B, +0.07% has amassed a 9.2% position, or $16.2 billion, in the $176 billion company. Its his No. 2 holding after Wells Fargo, in which he has a $26.4 billion stake.

Let’s look at what moves Coke’s stock higher from here and make Buffett even richer.

1. Coke is dealing with the “obesity issue.”

Coke will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its iconic Coca-Cola bottle this year. But Coke’s real focus will be on keeping up with changing consumer tastes, by rolling out more non-carbonated drinks. It’s working so far — something that a lot of investors might be missing.

Coke’s Fuze tea recently crossed the billion-dollar mark for sales. The growth of Fuze tea and other drinks like Simply Orange juice, Vitaminwater and Minute Maid Pulpy help explain why non-fizzy drinks have grown to 26% of drinks sales volume, from 20% in 2007, says Morningstar analyst Adam Fleck. “As these brands gain traction, we forecast price increases and improved profitability,” says Fleck.

By the way, that supposed decline in popularity of Coke and other sugary carbonated drinks may not be completely true, at least not globally. Fizzy drinks represented a third of worldwide sector sales in 2014, the same share as in 2010. That is partly because carbonated drinks remain popular in developing countries.

Coke is also offering smaller serving sizes to address obesity concerns, and consumers love them. Sales of 7.5-ounce “mini-cans” of Coke grew 15% in the fourth quarter.

2. Coke still has its marketing moxie.

Besides Fuze tea, a premium tea called Gold Peak also recently crossed the billion-dollar mark for sales. This shows us that Coke still knows how to use its marketing magic and distribution clout to create big brands. Coke now has 20 brands with more than a billion dollars in annual sales, compared with 14 five years ago. (And 14 of the current lineup of 20 brands are non-carbonated.)

Coke also boosted prices on fizzy drinks significantly in the second half of last year in North America, and got away with it. “This gives us confidence that when we invest in our brands, align on our system plans and focus on execution, we do see positive results,” CEO Muhtar Kent said in the company’s February conference call.

Six new billion-dollar brands in five years. Getting away with price hikes at a time of limited inflation and pay growth. Do you need any more evidence that Coke still has its marketing moxie?

3. Coke wants to be in your life more often.

When you’re the boss of Coca-Cola, here’s how you look at the world. The typical household worldwide has 26 drinks a day. But only 1.4 of them are from Coca-Cola, on average, and that’s not good enough for Kent, the CEO. “Our opportunity to capture more beverage occasions is just immense,” he says. To increase the number, Coca-Cola is trying all sorts of things — beyond creating popular new drink brands out of thin air.

It has a big deal with Keurig Green Mountain US:GMCR to roll out a single-serve cold-drink machine this year. Coca-Cola products will be featured prominently. It’s got a co-marketing deal with Monster Beverage MNST, -2.13% to get better exposure to energy drinks. In India, Coke has rolled out “splash bars” that serve tiny shots of Coke for a few cents, and “happiness on the go” trucks with soda fountains that also sell small servings.

Coke has even moved into milk with Fairlife, which is milk filtered to increase protein and calcium levels while reducing sugar and lactose. It’s being pitched as a weight-loss product.

4. Coke is an emerging-market and frontier-market play.

“Frontier markets” offer great investment promise. As regions that are even less developed than emerging markets, they promise bigger growth off a smaller base. But it’s tough to get exposure via stocks, since securities markets in these regions are also less developed.

Coca-Cola offers a way to get frontier-market exposure because it is building its Coca-Cola Beverages Africa division, which the company says will serve over a billion consumers. “These markets will be long-term growth engines for our company, so it is absolutely critical that we invest sufficiently today to prime those engines for decade to come,” Kent, the CEO, said.

Coca-Cola also just inked a joint-venture deal in Indonesia, whose middle class will double by 2020, according to Kent. Emerging-market middle-class growth will spur $300 billion worth of growth in the global non-alcoholic-drinks industry through 2020, Kent says. That’s a nice mega-trend to be a part of as an investor.

5. Coke is quietly restructuring behind the scenes.

Coke plans to sell two-thirds of its U.S. bottler business by 2017. Since those are lower-margin businesses, moving them off the balance sheet boosts Coca-Cola’s return on invested capital over time, says Manulife Asset Management’s Henry. Coke is also cutting costs. It hopes to trim $3 billion in annual spending by 2019.

Both of those moves boost margins and free up capital for marketing.

They’ll also boost cash flow — already at an astonishing $29 million a day — to support ongoing dividend increases. The dividend has been raised 52 years in a row, after all.

Coke’s current 3.2% dividend yield is certainly an added sweetener here.

But this investment story is more about brand power, marketing moxie and emerging-market growth. “We have the brands. We’ve got the people to romance those brands. And we have an unparalleled global system that touches the entire planet,” Kent says.

Now all Coke needs is better sales and earnings growth, but it looks like it will get there.

At the time of publication, Michael Brush had no positions in any stocks mentioned in this column. Brush has suggested Coca-Cola in his stock newsletter “Brush Up on Stocks.” Brush is a Manhattan-based financial writer who has covered business for the New York Times and The Economist group, and he attended Columbia Business School in the Knight-Bagehot program.