Shares of Molson Coors Beverage Co., maker of Miller Lite and Coors Light, have outperformed the US-listed stock of rival Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, the maker of Bud Light, so far this month amid fallout from the latter beer brand’s collaboration with a celebrity influencer.
(Bloomberg) — Shares of Molson Coors Beverage Co., maker of Miller Lite and Coors Light, have outperformed the US-listed stock of rival Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, the maker of Bud Light, so far this month amid fallout from the latter beer brand’s collaboration with a celebrity influencer.
Molson Coors jumped 7.5% this week, its best such performance since June 2022, bringing its gain for the month to about 8.5%. Meanwhile, AB InBev’s American depositary receipts have slumped more than 3%, on track for their worst month since September. The S&P 500 Consumer Staples Index has gained roughly 0.7% over that same stretch.
“AB InBev’s decision to work with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote Bud Light appears to have caused shares of the four leading brewers in the $104 billion US beer market to diverge,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kenneth Shea wrote in a note Friday, referring to AB InBev, Molson, Constellation Brands Inc. and Boston Beer Co.
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IRI, a third-party consumer goods retail market data provider, will give an update on the beer industry on May 2 that could provide a “glimpse” as to whether Bud Light drinkers were looking for alternatives in the likes of Coors Light and/or Miller Lite, which sell at similar prices, Shea said. A further Bud Light sales hit may be felt in restaurants and bars, though that data isn’t captured by IRI.
Degroof analyst Fernand de Boer said the “social media storm” means the influencer issue will be the key focus of earnings call on May 4, when Anheuser-Busch is scheduled to report first-quarter results. He predicts the company could lose $700 million of Bud Light beer sales amid the fallout.
Beer Business Daily reported on Monday that Bud Light indeed saw a decline in volume in some markets over the weekend due to a negative reaction to the collaboration with Mulvaney.
–With assistance from Joe Easton.
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