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The Boston Beer Company

SAM
37
Beverages - Alcoholic · Consumer Defensive
Winston Score
37
Winston is serious
Below-average fundamentals — multiple weak pillars.

The Boston Beer Company makes alcoholic drinks sold across the United States and in select international markets. Its most famous brand is Samuel Adams beer, but the company also makes Twisted Tea hard iced tea, Truly Hard Seltzer, and Angry Orchard hard cider. It sells mainly to adult consumers through bars, restaurants, and retail stores.

The company earns money by brewing and selling its beverages to distributors, who then sell to retailers and venues. Boston Beer operates primarily in the U.S., with a small international presence, and generates roughly $2 billion in annual revenue. Its strength comes from owning several well-known brand names across different drink categories, which gives it shelf space and consumer recognition that smaller rivals struggle to match. The biggest risk the company faces is the sharp decline in hard seltzer sales — Truly lost significant market share to competitors — and Boston Beer must find new growth from emerging categories like hard tea or non-alcoholic drinks to offset that pressure.

Winston Score History

Growth Profile

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

-4.4% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Revenue declining

EPS Growth

-742.6% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Earnings declining

Insider Activity

29.5%ownership

Flat

Insiders holding steady — not selling despite ability to

Cash Runway

~15 months

$164M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Adequate runway but may need to raise capital within 2 years

Revenue declining

The Boston Beer Company's revenue is actually shrinking. In a growth stock, that removes the core investment thesis. The low Winston Score here may be warranted — unless there's a turnaround story.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

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Quality

Gross Margin
49.3%
Healthy — 49.3% gross margin
Operating Margin
5.0%
Thin — 5.0% operating margin
ROCE
3.0%
Weak — 3.0% return on capital

ROIC between 0% and 5%. They earn a few cents back per dollar invested in the business.

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Growth

Sales YoY
+1.3%
Nearly flat sales (1.3% YoY)
EPS YoY
-204.1%
Earnings shrinking (-204.1% YoY)

Earnings per share down more than 10%. Either a bad year, or a real decline.

EPS Consistency
4/8 quarters
Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion
N/A
Data not available
FCF Margin
9.2%
Modest free cash flow (9.2%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

Debt / Equity
0.05
Conservative — low debt load (0.05)
Interest Cover
100.00x
Comfortably covers interest (100.0x)

Interest coverage above 8. Profits cover interest many times over.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)
N/M
no trend
Negative earnings — P/E not meaningful
P/E vs Forward
N/A
not available
Data not available

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.
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