USA: Beer sales sluggish during the last four-week period

U.S. beer sales were sluggish during the latest four-week tracking period monitored by Nielsen, MSN reported on August 20.

Sales were down 2.3% compared to a year ago, as a 4.1% drop in volume was partially offset by a 1.8% increase in price/mix.

Anheuser-Busch InBev commanded a 36.9% U.S, beer market share as its four-week sales were down 2.1% Y/Y to outpace the marks from Molson Coors (-6.2%), Heineken (-7.1%), Pabst (-5.4%), Boston Beer (-6.2%), Yuengling (-12.4%), and Diageo (-0.7%). Michelob Ultra boosted BUD's sales once again.

Beer makers with positive growth over the four-week tracking period included Constellation Brands (+3.5% Y/Y), Sierra Nevada (+0.5%), and New Belgium (+0.8%).

Beer scorecard: Kiring Holding and Anheuser-Busch InBev are the two beers with the highest quantitative analysis grades. In terms of dividend payouts, Ambev S.A. and Carlsberg A/S have the highest yields for new buyers of the stock. Over the last 52 weeks, Anheuser-Busch InBev has the top share price return at +9.2%. Carlsberg trades with the lowest forward PE ratio. Molson Coors is the beer stock with the highest percentage of short interest outstanding on it.

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