Ed8563/Dreamstime
crushed expectations during the first quarter. It had more to do with Truly Hard Seltzer than Samuel Adams.
The brewer (ticker: SAM) reported earnings of $5.26 a share, more than double Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $2.61 a share, according to FactSet. Net revenue of $545.1 million was up 65% from the first quarter of 2020, and sailed over estimates calling for $477.3 million.
Depletions—an industry metric for how fast beer leaves the distributor to retailers—were up 48% from the year prior. CEO
Dave Burwick
said in the earnings release that such growth was driven by the Truly Hard Seltzer and Twisted Tea brands. Samuel Adams, Angry Orchard, and Dogfish Head brands saw declines in depletions.
“The recently launched Truly Iced Tea Hard Seltzer has accelerated Truly brand growth, which has more than doubled since last year,” Burwick said. “In the first quarter in measured off-premise channels, the Truly brand outgrew the hard seltzer category by nearly 2X or 50 percentage points, resulting in a share increase of 6.5 percentage points.”
He added that the Truly brand has a market share of more than 28%. The company hopes to keep the brand’s momentum going in the second quarter, when it expects to launch Truly Punch Hard Seltzer.
For the full fiscal year, the company forecasts adjusted earnings between $22 and $26 a share, with depletions growth between 40% and 50%.
Investors were clearly pleased with the report. The stock jumped nearly 8% to $1,3440 in early-hours trading on Friday.
Write to Connor Smith at connor.smith@barrons.com
