The Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) and Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for The Boston Beer and Constellation Brands, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
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The Boston Beer | 1 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 2.50 |
Constellation Brands | 0 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 2.62 |
The Boston Beer presently has a consensus price target of $1,048.50, suggesting a potential downside of 3.66%. Constellation Brands has a consensus price target of $227.5238, suggesting a potential upside of 4.84%. Given Constellation Brands' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Constellation Brands is more favorable than The Boston Beer.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
68.8% of The Boston Beer shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.9% of Constellation Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 29.1% of The Boston Beer shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.8% of Constellation Brands shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares The Boston Beer and Constellation Brands' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
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The Boston Beer | 10.77% | 20.36% | 13.84% |
Constellation Brands | 21.63% | 16.09% | 7.41% |
Risk and Volatility
The Boston Beer has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Constellation Brands has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares The Boston Beer and Constellation Brands' revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
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The Boston Beer | $1.25 billion | 10.68 | $110.04 million | $9.17 | 118.68 |
Constellation Brands | $9.11 billion | 4.62 | $-11,800,000.00 | $9.12 | 23.79 |
The Boston Beer has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Constellation Brands. Constellation Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than The Boston Beer, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Constellation Brands beats The Boston Beer on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.