Benzinga’s weekly Stock Wars matches up two leaders in a major industry sector with the goal of determining which company is the better investment. This week, the duel is between two powerhouse rivals in the beverage space: Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo, Inc.  The Case For Coca-Cola This company traces its roots to John Stith Pemberton, a Georgia pharmacist who was injured in the Civil War and was given a morphine regimen that metastasized into an addiction. Pemberton created a drink in 1886 that he hoped would have pain-killing elements without morphine’s lethal addictive nature. The Coca-Cola name was credited to Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, and was inspired by the coca leaves and kola nuts ingredients—and, contrary to popular legend, not by cocaine, which was never part of the mixture. The Coca-Cola Company has been publicly traded since 1919 and has been paying its stockholders dividends since 1920. Today, the Atlanta-based …