Read America’s Favorite Beers

The beer brands with the greatest strength — a measure of familiarity, quality, purchase consideration, trust and the ability to generate buzz — are largely more expensive brews. Nine of the 10 are among the most expensive beers out of the country’s 20 best-selling beers. The beer that is not one of the most expensive, Yuengling, is not far behind in price.

American consumers also are spending more on these beers. Dollar sales of every beer on the list has increased from one year prior. Yuengling, Blue Moon and Modelo Especial have had the largest increases among all popular beer brands. Meanwhile, many other brands, including Budweiser by Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD), Keystone Light and Natural Light, experienced decreases over this same period. Sales of Bud Light Lime dropped nearly 7% over this period.

The beers with the most powerful brands are just as varied as beer drinkers’ tastes. They differ greatly in style and originate from five different countries. They also have a range of founding dates, extending from 1759 to 1995. This illustrates that an established brand does not necessarily mean a strong brand.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend Rankings to identify the most popular beers, which quantifies brand strength among consumers. We included dollar sales, change in dollar sales from one year ago and case sales. We also included the average price per case over the latest 52-week period in the United States provided by SymphonyIRI Group, a Chicago-based market research firm. The group looked at sales at supermarkets, drugstores, gas/convenience stores and mass market retailers, but excluding Walmart (NYSE: WMT) club stores, and liquor stores.

These are America’s favorite beers.

AB InBev posted EPS of $1.06 versus the consensus estimate of $0.91 and revenue of $9.33 billion against a consensus estimate of $9.36 billion. EPS was 75% higher than the same period a year ago. Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE: TAP) is expected to post EPS of $0.42 on revenue of $703.83 million for the first quarter, down a penny from the same period a year ago. Boston Brewing Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) is expected to post EPS of $0.40, up from $0.28 a year ago, on revenue of $112.13 million. SABMiller PLC (OTC: SBMRY.PK) is expected to haul in EPS of $1.89 on revenue of $19.23 billion for the 2012 fiscal year.

AB InBev’s outlook is weighing on the share price this morning. The company front-loaded US shipments in the first quarter, and anticipates “softer shipments in the US in 2Q12 as a result.” The company also expects a boost in the minimum wage in Brazil, its second largest market, to “accelerate industry beer volumes. The company also forecasts revenue to “grow ahead of inflation.”

The less-good nes is that cost of sales is expected to increase by “mid single digits,” and AB InBev’s distribution expenses are expected to rise “by mid to high single digits.” The company plans to “continue to drive top-line performance by investing behind our brands.” To investors, that all sounds like running hard in order to remain in the same place.

AB InBev’s shares are down about -0.7% this morning at $72.12 in a 52-week range of $49.05-$74.31.

Paul Ausick

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 65 points to 13,029.19 (0.5%), the NASDAQ fell more than 7 points (-0.24%) to 3.000.45, and the S&P 500 rose 0.12% or nearly 2 points to 1,378.53.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) cut to ‘sell’ at Credit Agricole; Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) cut to ‘market perform’ at Wells Fargo; Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) started as ‘neutral’ at UBS; Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; and Plains All American Pipeline L.P. (NYSE: PAA) started as ‘overweight’ at Barclays.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is up 1.4% at $19.41 (more coverage here); McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is up 0.7% at $95.90 (more coverage here); Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) is up 1.6% at $76.50 after posting a new 52-week intraday high of $77.09 (more coverage here); Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) is down -0.4% at $34.55; Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) is down -8.1% at $35.38; Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) is up 0.05% at $53.96; Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) is up 11.7% at $30.09 (more coverage here); Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) is down -12.2% at $35.55 (more coverage here); KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) is down -0.06% at $7.87; American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) is up 1.1% at $38.29; Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (NYSE: CP) is up 0.8% at $77.08 (more coverage here); Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC) is flat at $1.16; and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) is down -7.8% at $26.61.

We have a preview of next week’s big earnings reports here.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) is down -8% at $6.19. The coal miner announced another mine closure today, along with a lowered production estimate. Patriot is scheduled to report earnings after markets close today.

Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) is down -28.6% at $19.89. The network equipment maker missed earnings expectations. More coverage here.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) is down -12% at $4.92. The dhip maker missed EPS estimates today and offered a lower-than-expected forecast.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6- month bill auction

Have a great weekend.

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Paul Ausick

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Sell from Underperform at Credit Agricole.

Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) Started as Neutral at UBS.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo; called “a stock to avoid on more ‘off balance sheet’ debt and ‘Founders Well’ issues” by Argus.

Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.

Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW) Cut to Underperform at Stern Agee.

Gran Tierra Energy, Inc. (AMEX: GTE) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA) Raised to Buy at Wunderlich.

Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LL) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) Raised to Outperform at Cowen.

Nexen Inc. (NYSE: NXY) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

ONEOK Inc. (NYSE: OKE) Raised to Buy at UBS.

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) Started as Overweight at Barclays.

Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer; downgrades and price target and estimates have been cut at multiple boutique firms.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank; downgraded or estimate and price targets cut at several other boutique firms.

Syntroleum Corporation (NASDAQ: SYNM) Started as Market Outperform with $1.80 price target at JMP Securities.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox.  We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

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JON C. OGG

Read the 100 Best Small Companies in America

The initial list based on the universe of public corporations with less than $1 billion in revenue. These companies are among the best for their size because they have increased revenue over the period covered by our analysis. Their relatively small sizes and robust sales expansion rates also makes it likely many will continue to grow even further, if the record of public company expansion is any example.  Past growth does not mean all of these firms will prosper, but most on this list have been consistently profitable, which adds to the chances of future progress.

Small companies, our research shows, usually have one or two specialized divisions and are focused on one core market. For instance, Steve Madden, True Religion and rue 21 have all carved out a niche segment in the apparel and footwear market. Their lack of diversity could be a drawback because the companies rely completely on one set of products, but it can also mean that management can be laser focused on a single opportunity.

Another industry which is well represented on this list is niche healthcare. Once again, most of the firms in this sector which made the list are in only one business. Mesa Labs makes manufacturing quality control products for medical devices. It is a narrow market, and there is no guarantee that a large device manufacturer might not attack the same sector. Bio-Reference Laboratories provides testing services. Cantel Medical provides infection prevention and control devices. This infection prevention business appears to be a relatively small one, but the overall medical industry in the US is expanding at such a rapid rate and regulations are changing so quickly that some of these companies will prosper because of these changes. Given the state of American healthcare costs, not many people would be surprised to see healthcare firms on a list of fast growing companies

These corporations are also often willing to take calculated risks, in some case, as they strive to expand their bases. Retailers are a good example.  Steve Madden, one of our companies, was started in 1990 with $1,100. The company has consistently added lines of apparel since then to increase revenue

Another reason to create this list is that 24/7 Wall St. recognizes that smaller companies continue to be a backbone of job growth. Corporations that are highly successful are roadmaps for the sort of industries, managements, and products and services which have done well recently. As recent access to capital has improved compared with access during the recession, well targeted and well run smaller businesses stand a much better chance of doing extremely well because they can tap pools of funding.   Methodology: We ranked these companies largely based on their growth rates as well as on how they have performed financially in the recent past. The pace of these growth rates allowed us to make a final selection and rank the companies when growth was combined with eight other categories. The 100 companies on our list had a median 20% sales growth and 30% earnings per share growth over the last 12 months. Similarly, the median stock price return for the latest year for this group was 16%, which is double the return of the S&P 500 index over the same time.

While stock market performance is one of our ranking criteria, we did not remove companies for poor performance because smaller companies tend to have greater price swings than the overall market. We should point out that this is not an investment list for value seekers. Maintaining these lofty growth rates is not an easy task.

S&P Capital IQ  provided us with corporate information, financial data and rankings based on a series of metrics. We started with a universe of 1,200 publicly traded, small companies, which we defined as having between $5 million and $1 billion in revenue over the last 12 months. To narrow this group down, we required that sales growth, earnings per share growth and return on equity to be greater than zero for both the latest 12 months and over the companies’ last five fiscal years. We also excluded companies whose stock price is lower than $5.This brought the size of the list to 164

The criteria we used to allow us to winnow the list to  100 companies  based on a few items which included stock price. We then assigned a rank based on all of the above growth metrics and stock price returns over one and five years. For companies whose shares were not traded for five years, we used annualized figures from their first trade date. From these category rankings, each company was given an overall score that was used to produce the list.

Brian Zajac

The financial data below is from the latest available reporting period and price change is as of March 21, 2012.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 46 points to 12,984.91 (0.36%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 24 points (0.81%) to 2,956.98, and the S&P 500 rose 0.43% or nearly 6 points to 1,363.46.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) reiterated as ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) raised to ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley; TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) reiterated as ‘hold’ at Argus; Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) reiterated as ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; and Juniper Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) cut to ‘market perform’ at FBR.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Angie’s List Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) is up 10.10% at $15.92; Boston Beer Company Inc. (NYSE: SAM) is down -4.5% at $99.88; Caribou Coffee Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOU) is down -1.8% at $17.28; DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is up 6.7% at $3.67; Flowserve Corp. (NYSE: FLS) is up 2.8% at $121.08; Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) is up 6.2% at $64.11; Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: GDP) is down -4.4% at $16.07; Hewlett Packard is down -6.4% at $27.08; KBR Inc. (NYSE: KBR) is up 9.1% at $36.01; American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT) is up 0.68% at $63.69; Bill Barrett Corp. (NYSE: BBG) is down -0.5% at $27.77; Charles & Colvard Ltd (NASDAQ: CTHR) is up 22.3% at $3.73 after posting a new 52-week high of $3.99 earlier today; Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) is up 10.6% at $57.73; Dish Network Inc. (NASDAQ: DISH) is up 1.5% at $29.60 (more coverage here); Foster Wheeler AG (NASDAQ: FWLT) is up 7.5% at $25.58; Officemax Inc. (NYSE: OMX) is up 7.25% at $5.92; and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) is up 3.5% at $54.80 (more coverage here).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) is up nearly 80% at $18.93 after posting a new 52-week high of $21.44 earlier. The drug maker yesterday received an FDA panel approval for its obesity drug. More coverage here, here, and here.

Onvia Inc. (NASDAQ: ONVI) is up about 34% at $4.21. The government contractor service provider has rejected a buyout bid at $4.25/share, boosting hopes of a bidding war.

Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) is up nearly 19% at $61.93. The retailer reported an enormous loss, but also announced plans to pare down the company. More coverage here.

Penn Virginia Corp. (NYSE: PVA) is down nearly -15% at $4.92. The independent oil & gas company missed EPS estimates badly, and lowered its production forecast for 2012.

GrafTech International Ltd. (NYSE: GTI) is down more than -15% at $13.07. Volume is more than 10x the daily average of 1 million shares traded. The industrial products company reported a big revenue miss this morning.

Stay tuned for Friday. St. Louis Fed president James Bullard and New York Fed president William Dudley are giving speeches. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 9:55 a.m. – Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index
• 10:00 a.m. – New home sales

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Paul Ausick

Included in the previews are some pricing data and color on each preview.  Estimates are the consensus targets from Thomson Reuters.

Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) is now up 35% from last year’s low and within about 6% of a 52-week high after many of the chip names have had phenomenal 2012 moves.  Estimates are $0.48 EPS on $662.3 million in sales.

Angie’s List Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) is set to see its first public earnings release.  We have always wondered about its lack of earnings as sort of unacceptable, but so far Wall Street has stayed by it.  Estimates are -$0.11 EPS on $25.38 million in sales.  At $15.20, the post-IPO range is $10.77 to $18.75.

Boston Beer Co. (NYSE: SAM) remains at a premium value on its earnings at 24-times expected 2012 earnings estimates. Estimates are $1.12 EPS and $131.6 million in sales.

Chico’s FAS Inc. (NYSE: CHS) is still trying to get its ship back in order.  Estimates are $0.11 EPS and $546.66 million in sales.

Clean Harbors Inc. (NYSE: CLH) has remained highly valued and it has recently split its stock after an incredible share move in recent years.  Estimates are $0.48 EPS and $506.04 million in sales.      4Q   0.49

Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX) is still pending a review by the FTC in its attempt to acquire Medco.  Many feel that the deal could be blocked.  Earnings estimates are $0.85 EPS on sales of $11.6 billion.

Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) still remains well off of its highs and is still at a premium at 16.5-times expected 2012 earnings for this infrastructure design leader.  Estimates are $0.82 EPS and $6.38 billion in sales.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) is expected to report $0.66 EPS on $769.9 million in sales.  The turnaround continues here as it continues to move away from being dependent upon Garmin sales for in-car navigation.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) is still just getting a plan underway for its Meg Whitman-lead turnaround.  Estimates are $0.87 EPS on $30.7 billion in sales.

Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD) is expected to post $1.46 EPS and $3.47 billion in sales.

Pan American Silver Corporation (NASDAQ: PAAS) is expected to report earnings of $0.51 EPS on $229.59 million in revenues.  We will be looking for its cost per ounce of production in silver.

SINA Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) is expected to report $0.21 EPS on $129.34 million in sales. This stock remains down by more than half from last-year’s highs.

TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX) remains at a premium valuation and shares hit a new all-time high on Tuesday.  Estimates are $0.62 EPS on $6.72 billion in sales.

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) is expected to report $0.02 EPS on $360.8 million in sales.  Home builders are profitable again, often from ‘other’ activities.  Shares just hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday.

Zale Corporation (NYSE: ZLC) is expected to post its “money quarter” that includes the holiday sales.  Estimates are $0.77 EPS on $657.38 million in revenue.  Keep in mind that this company is still expected to lose money for its full year ending in July.

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JON C. OGG

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Started as Neutral with $13 target at Credit Suisse.
Boston Beer Company (NYSE: SAM) named Momentum stock of the day at Zacks.
Cameron International (NYSE: CAM) Reiterated Buy with $73 target at BofA/ML.
Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE: CIM) Raised to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) Raised to Neutral at Citigroup.
Magnum Hunter Resources (NYSE: MHR) reiterated Buy and raised target to $8.00 at Canaccord Genuity.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) maintained Neutral but cut target to $14 at JPMorgan.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Reiterated Buy with $18 target at BofA/ML.
Parker Drilling Company (NYSE: PKD) named value stock of the day at Zacks.
Plexus Corporation (NASDAQ: PLXS) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) Started as Outperform at BMO Capital.
SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE: SVU) Reinstated as Neutral at BofA/ML.
United Therapeutics (NASDAQ: UTHR) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day as Zacks.
Zimmer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZMH) Cut to Hold at Argus.

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JON C. OGG

The acquisition should also give a boost to Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), which owns a 27.1% stake in SABMiller from Altria’s sale of Miller Brewing to SAB in 2002. Molson-Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE: TAP) and Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) are both much smaller than either InBev or SABMiller, and could be additional targets for the Big Two as the beer business continues to consolidate.

SABMiller derives about 80% of its revenue from emerging markets, with China’s Snow brand the largest seller in the world and China the biggest consuming nation in the world. US consumption was about half that, but still the second-largest beer consumer.

Chinese beer drinkers downed nearly 12 billion gallons of brew last year, topping the world beer rankings. InBev’s Bud Light and Budweiser and Brazilian brew Skol followed.

But the outlook for beer in emerging markets is getting softer, and SABMiller wanted to make an acquisition in a developed market, and Foster’s is the largest brewer in Australia. Foster’s also has a significant presence in Asia, so SABMiller gets to increase its footprint on two continents.

US beer consumption is growing in the craft beer and high-priced beer segments, and imported beers have also seen increases. Import sales remain about -11% below pre-2008 levels. Overall, though, there are some big losers in beer sales.

Beer industry growth has been increasing since the very slow days of 2009, when growth was a meager 0.4%. In 2010 that figure grew to 1.6%, and is expected to reach 2.5% this year. Europe and the US contribute about 1% growth each, and the emerging nations of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East contribute up to 5% of the growth.

Brewers also got a break this year on barley prices. The cold wet spring in North America and some of Europe delayed corn planting long enough that some farmers planted barley because prices at the time were over $350/metric ton and expected to rise. But the strong crop yields have pushed barley prices down below $250/metric ton in Canada, one of the largest barley growing regions in the world.

Foster’s fought off a $9.2 billion offer from SABMiller earlier this year, and the company’s patience paid off to the tune of about $1 billion. The deal looks like a winner for both sides.

Paul Ausick

Analysts at Citigroup have raised both Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) and Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’. Citi also raised Mosaic’s price target from $84/share to $85, and raised its price target on shares of Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU) from $94/share to $96, while maintaining a ‘hold’ rating on the shares. Fertilizer makers have gained anywhere from about 40% to more than 120% in the past 12 months.

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF) is the big gainer and the stock is trading off slightly today, at $153.03, down about -1.4% in a 52-week range of $57.56-$158.42. CF gained more than 12% just last week. Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), which has posted a 40% share price gain in the past year, and Syngenta AG (NYSE: SYT), up about 50% in the same period, are just following along.

There’s no big mystery about what’s going on. Demand for food is up and perhaps the cheapest way to grow more food is to add more fertilizer. It beats clearing new land (if that’s even possible).

A dry year so far has boosted prices for malting barley in Europe. Prices have jumped from about $300/metric ton in November 2010 to around $380/metric ton in May.

The long delays in corn planting in some parts of the US could lead farmers to plant barley, a crop that can thrive with a shorter growing season. The drought in Europe has hit the barley crop very hard, and the number of US acres already set for planting is just 2.95 million acres, the second lowest total on record. Canada’s recently boosted its barley price to about $360/metric ton.

Rising prices for barley are not the only thing hurting brewers — demand is falling as well. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (NYSE: BUD), Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE: TAP), and Boston Beer Co., Inc. (NYSE: SAM) are all feeling the effects of lower sales, and the coming rise in barley prices won’t help. Anheuser-Busch InBev is trading up about 3% today, at $60.32, in a 52-week range of $46.19-$60.38. Molson Coors is trading down fractionally at $46.59, in a 52-week range of $40.35-$51.11. Boston Beer is down about -0.5%, at $82.97, in a 52-week range of $60.95-$100.93.

Finally today, Russia announced over the weekend that it would resume wheat exports in July. The country could export up to 20 million metric tons of wheat out of a crop that could be as high as 85-90 million metric tons. The news has hit European markets hard and US wheat futures in Chicago are down more than -5%, at about $7.78/bushel.

The PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (NYSE: DBA) is off about -0.4%, at $32.70, in a 52-week range of $22.85-$35.58. The Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE: MOO) is up nearly 1%, to $55.22, within a 52-week range of $35.62-$57.93.

Paul Ausick