Boston Beer Q2 F26: Heavy lifting by Sun Cruiser, margin beat and guidance (largely) maintained

Research evidence excerpt

Boston Beer Q2 F26: Heavy lifting by Sun Cruiser, margin beat and guidance (largely) maintained

23 July 2026

Nadine Sarwat, CFA

+44 20 7676 6849

Americas Alcoholic Beverages nadine.sarwat@bernsteinsg.com

The Boston Beer Company Trevor Stirling

+44 20 7676 7521

Rating trevor.stirling@bernsteinsg.com

Market-Perform Matthew Cheung

Price Target +44 20 7676 6809

matthew.cheung@bernsteinsg.com

SAM 210.00 USD

Asavari Paluskar, CFA, CA (India)

+44 20 7676 7291

asavari.paluskar@bernsteinsg.com

Boston Beer Q2 F26: Heavy lifting by Sun Cruiser, margin beat and

guidance (largely) maintained

Boston Beer reported Q2 after the close. We have three takeaways from the release: (1) Q2

Close Date 23 Jul 2026

depletions of -6% (vs. Nielsen scanner beer/FMB volumes of -15%) highlights the absolute

SAM Close Price (USD) 174.51

strength of (and serious heavy lifting by) Sun Cruiser. (2) Gross margin continues to surprise

Price Target (USD) 210.00

to the upside, beating us by ~20bps and consensus by ~40bps. (3) Lots of moving parts to

Upside/(Downside) 20%

guidance. Topline was reiterated and gross margin was slightly narrowed to the top-end of the

52-Week Range 264.46/158.68

range. However, F26 non-GAAP EPS is still guided to $8.50-$10.50 despite a cut in guided

SPX 7,498.96

absolute increase AP&S (excluding changes in freight expense) at the midpoint of ~2/3rds,

FYE Dec

perhaps reflecting an offset by higher underlying freight costs in the last few months.

Div Yield NA

Topline in-line with consensus estimates. Boston Beer posted Q1 shipment growth Market Cap (USD) (M) 1,796

of -4.5%, ahead of us and consensus by +100bps and +90bps respectively. Depletions EV (USD) (M) 1,667

declined -6.0%. Decreases in Twisted Tea, Truly, Samuel Adams, Hard Mountain Dew and Performance YTD 1M 6M 12M