Investing.com - Boston Beer rallied Wednesday after topping earnings expectations.
Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) reported fourth-quarter earnings of $1.86 a share on revenue of $225.2 million, topping estimates compiled by Investing.com for earnings of $1.69 a share on revenue of $225 million. Its shares rose more than 14%.
The above-consensus results were driven by depletions growth of 11% for the fourth quarter and 13% for the full year. Depletions are the rate at which beer is sold from a distributor to retailers. The company credited strong performance in its Truly Hard Seltzer, Twisted Tea and Angry Orchard brands.
The brewer of Sam Adams touted frothy performance for the current year, targeting double-digit top-line growth and a "significant" increase in operating income.
"We expect first quarter shipments growth to be significantly higher than depletions as we manage our supply chain and capacity to ensure our distributor inventory levels are adequate to support drinker demand for our brands during the peak summer months," said Dave Burwick, the company's President and CEO.
The company guided full-year earnings in the range of $8 to $9 a share.
The upbeat outlook comes as the beer market got off to a strong start for the year, with volume up 3.7% during the first four weeks of 2019, compared with last year, according to market research firm IRI.
Boston Beer’s Sam 76 grew dollar sales 77.8% during the period, while its off-premise multi-outlet and convenience retail channel universe (MULC) store sales rose 22.3%, the report showed.