They skated - this is last quarter’s results.
For those who don’t know, these investor calls are make-or-break deals for corporate execs. Just go to Yahoo Finance and look at “Largest Holders” and you’ll see the same institutions holding the largest blocks of stocks in all the top corporations - for BUD it’s Dodge and Cox stock fund, Mfgrs Life Insurance Col, Fisher Asset Mgt....Royal Bank of Canada, Morgan Stanley, John Hancock, Fidelity...etc ad nauseum.
So you can bet when the chief analyst for Dodge and Cox which owns 25 million shares of BUD asks a question or expresses a concern, the CEO of AB Inbev pays close attention. What these investors do will not only determine the size of next years bonus, but whether or not he is there to collect it.
All that said - BUD dodged a bullet because the Queer Beer promotion started on April 1, the day after the quarter closed, so everything reported in this call is old news from last quarter. Let’s see whether he’s able to sail through with a one-liner in another 3 months. So far the Bud Light controversy has not had an impact on yearly expectations. If that changes and they are forced to revise guidance downward, you can be assured there will be fop sweat by the case load in the executive suite.
I foresee no let up in the Bud Light boycott.
The damage is done and may be irreversible.
The next quarters earnings will be lower than the past one..................