Many breweries now do a large part of their business with non-alcoholic beers and even schnapps producers such as Berentzen
$BEZ (+0%) also want to score points with new non-alcoholic mixed drinks.
Producers of alcoholic beverages have been punished on the stock market in recent months. Anheuser-Busch $ABI (-1.17%) is down a good ten percent on the previous year. The brewery group owns brands such as Budweiser, Corona, Beck's and Löwenbräu. At its competitor Heineken
$HEIA (-0.82%) is in a similar position, down seven percent over the past twelve months. Also Molson Coors
$TAP (-2.44%) is also a good three percent below its value a year ago.
If you look at the past few weeks, you can see that the industry may have just managed to reverse the trend. Molson Coors is up a good six percent since the beginning of the year, Anheuser-Busch is even up over seven percent and Heineken has gained 17 percent since the beginning of the year.
Analysts from the broker eToro believe that the breweries' switch to non-alcoholic products and premium beers may still offer an opportunity: "The transformation has not yet been reflected in the share prices," they write. And: "The companies generate stable cash flows, often pay attractive dividends and benefit from a largely crisis-proof demand."
Source (excerpt) & image: Welt, 26.02.25
