5 Best Brewery and Distillery Stocks to Buy Now

4. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 29

The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM) is one of the largest American-owned brewing companies, best known for its line of all-malt beers under the brand name Samuel Adams. The company currently has a market cap of $4.32 billion and boasted a revenue of $2.09 billion in 2022. 

SouthernSun Asset Management, LLC, an investment management firm, released its “SouthernSun Small Cap Strategy” fourth quarter 2023 investor letter recently and stated the following regarding The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM):

“The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM), a leading provider of alcohol beverages, was one of the bottom performers in the Small Cap strategy. The company reported slight net revenue growth for the third quarter of 2023, led by strong growth in the Twisted Tea brand, offset by declines in the Truly brand. SAM continues to extend existing brands (e.g. the continued national rollout of Twisted Tea Light), replace struggling flavors (e.g. increasing the shelf and marketing presence of Truly’s more popular, lighter flavors) and launch new brands that we believe will produce good, though uneven, results over the long term. For the second quarter in a row, margins expanded, as the company benefited from operational margin improvement initiatives, as well as deflation in freight costs. Management is steering a multi-year effort to enhance the efficiency of its operations that we believe is likely to produce sustainable margin improvement. SAM has a strong balance sheet, with net cash, and management is directing excess cash flow toward share repurchases. Overall, we remain confident management’s efforts to grow the brands, improve the efficiency of operations, and allocate the company’s capital will reward investors over time.”