Susquehanna Remains a Hold on Boston Beer


In a report released today, Pablo Zuanic from Susquehanna maintained a Hold rating on Boston Beer (NYSE: SAM), with a price target of $305. The company’s shares closed yesterday at $285.75, close to its 52-week high of $286.40.

Zuanic wrote:

“Yes, we are chasing the rally here, but in all fairness the very successful innovation around hard cider, hard seltzer, the new Sam’76 (a more approachable craft beer), and sustained 20% plus growth in hard tea, has caught even management by surprise, if we go by guidance and apparent stock outs. The reference to Jonathan Lyons’ book in this note’s title is no coincidence; why can’t BUD and TAP innovate like this? We are taking up our volume growth estimates for the year to +15% from +3%, well above the latest guidance of 0-6%. The latest scanner data pointed to 20% 4w yoy vol growth and 2Q will likely average mid/ high-teens growth. Also, the operating leverage and mix benefits put SAM likely ahead of this year’s gross margin guidance of 0-200bp (vs. the FY17 base of 52%), and if momentum is sustained also ahead of medium term guidance of 100bp pa.”

According to TipRanks.com, Zuanic is a 4-star analyst with an average return of 4.3% and a 53.5% success rate. Zuanic covers the Consumer Goods sector, focusing on stocks such as Coca-Cola European Partners, Constellation Brands Inc, and Anheuser-Busch Inbev Sa.

Boston Beer has an analyst consensus of Hold, with a price target consensus of $220.43.

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Boston Beer’s market cap is currently $3.28B and has a P/E ratio of 33.62. The company has a Price to Book ratio of 7.66.

Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 48 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is positive on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders buying their shares of SAM in relation to earlier this year. Last month, Gregg Tanner, a Director at SAM bought 10,000 shares for a total of $344,800.

TipRanks has tracked 36,000 company insiders and found that a few of them are better than others when it comes to timing their transactions. See which 3 stocks are most likely to make moves following their insider activities.

Boston Beer Co., Inc. engages in the business of alcoholic beverages. It operates through Boston Beer Company, and A&S Brewing segments. The Boston Beer Company segment comprises of Samuel Adams, Twisted Tea, Angry Orchard, and Truly Spiked a& Sparkling brands.

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