Beverages, Alcohol and Tobacco Stocks Q3 Teardown: Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) Vs The Rest

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Beverages, Alcohol and Tobacco Stocks Q3 Teardown: Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) Vs The Rest

As the Q3 earnings season wraps, let’s dig into this quarter’s best and worst performers in the beverages, alcohol and tobacco industry, including Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) and its peers.

These companies' performance is influenced by brand strength, marketing strategies, and shifts in consumer preferences. Changing consumption patterns are particularly relevant and can be seen in the rise of cannabis, craft beer, and vaping or the steady decline of soda and cigarettes. Companies that spend on innovation to meet consumers where they are with regards to trends can reap huge demand benefits while those who ignore trends can see stagnant volumes. Finally, with the advent of the social media, the cost of starting a brand from scratch is much lower, meaning that new entrants can chip away at the market shares of established players.

The 14 beverages, alcohol and tobacco stocks we track reported a slower Q3. As a group, revenues missed analysts’ consensus estimates by 2.1% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 2.7% below.

In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady as they are up 3.6% on average since the latest earnings results.

Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD)

Born out of a complicated web of mergers and acquisitions, Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) boasts a powerhouse beer portfolio of Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona, and local favorites around the world.

Anheuser-Busch reported revenues of $15.05 billion, down 3.4% year on year. This print fell short of analysts’ expectations by 4.2%. Overall, it was a slower quarter for the company with a miss of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

“Beer is a passion point for consumers. Consumer demand for our megabrands and the execution of our mega platforms delivered another quarter of top- and bottom-line growth with margin expansion. Our teams and partners continue to execute our strategy and we are confident in our ability to deliver on our raised FY24 EBITDA growth outlook of 6-8%.” – Michel Doukeris, CEO, AB InBev

Anheuser-Busch Total Revenue
Anheuser-Busch Total Revenue

Unsurprisingly, the stock is down 11% since reporting and currently trades at $55.96.

Read our full report on Anheuser-Busch here, it’s free.

Best Q3: Zevia PBC (NYSE:ZVIA)

With a primary focus on soda but also a presence in energy drinks and teas, Zevia (NYSE:ZVIA) is a better-for-you beverage company.

Zevia PBC reported revenues of $36.37 million, down 15.6% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 6.8%. However, the business still had a strong quarter with optimistic EBITDA guidance for the next quarter and an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.