Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) vs. Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) Head to Head Contrast

Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) and Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Constellation Brands and Boston Beer, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Constellation Brands	4	9	13	1	2.41
Boston Beer	1	10	2	0	2.08

Constellation Brands currently has a consensus price target of $191.28, indicating a potential upside of 44.45%. Boston Beer has a consensus price target of $258.09, indicating a potential upside of 19.84%. Given Constellation Brands’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Constellation Brands is more favorable than Boston Beer.

Profitability

This table compares Constellation Brands and Boston Beer’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Constellation Brands	-4.11%	31.41%	10.81%
Boston Beer	3.65%	15.15%	11.02%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.3% of Constellation Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.1% of Boston Beer shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.5% of Constellation Brands shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 26.1% of Boston Beer shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Constellation Brands and Boston Beer”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Constellation Brands	$10.96 billion	2.13	-$81.40 million	($2.39)	-55.41
Boston Beer	$2.14 billion	1.12	$59.69 million	$7.09	30.37

Boston Beer has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Constellation Brands. Constellation Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Boston Beer, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Constellation Brands has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Boston Beer has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Boston Beer beats Constellation Brands on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Constellation Brands

Constellation Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces, imports, markets, and sells beer, wine, and spirits in the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and Italy. The company provides beer primarily under the Corona Extra, Corona Familiar, Corona Hard Seltzer, Corona Light, Corona Non-Alcoholic, Corona Premier, Corona Refresca, Modelo Especial, Modelo Chelada, Modelo Negra, Modelo Oro, Victoria, Vicky Chamoy, and Pacifico brands. It also offers wine under the Cook’s California Champagne, Kim Crawford, Meiomi, Mount Veeder, Ruffino, SIMI, My Favorite Neighbor, Robert Mondavi Winery, Schrader, and The Prisoner Wine Company brands; and spirits under the Casa Noble, Copper & Kings, High West, Mi CAMPO, Nelson’s Green Brier, and SVEDKA brands. The company provides its products to wholesale distributors, retailers, on-premise locations, and state alcohol beverage control agencies. Constellation Brands, Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Victor, New York.

About Boston Beer

The Boston Beer Company, Inc produces and sells alcohol beverages primarily in the United States. The company's flagship beer is Samuel Adams Boston Lager. It offers various beers, hard ciders, flavored malt beverages, and hard seltzers under the Samuel Adams, Twisted Tea, Truly, Angry Orchard, Dogfish Head, Angel City, and Coney Island brand names. The company markets and sells its products to a network wholesaler in the United States, as well as wholesalers, importers, or other agencies that in turn sell to retailers, such as grocery stores, club stores, convenience stores, liquor stores, bars, restaurants, stadiums, and other e-commerce retail outlets. It sells its products in Canada, Europe, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, the Pacific Rim, Mexico, and Central and South America. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.