Molson Coors's stock rises on Q2 sales and earnings beat

By James Rogers

Molson Coors said its results were driven by favorable prices and U.S. shipment timing

Molson Coors Beverage Co. stock was up 2.7% in premarket trading Tuesday after the beer maker reported better-than-expected second-quarter sales and earnings.

Molson Coors (TAP) said its second-quarter net income rose to $427 million, or $2.03 a share, from $342.4 million, or $1.57 a share, in the prior year's quarter. On an adjusted basis, Molson Coors reported earnings of $1.92 a share, up from $1.78 a share in the same period last year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for earnings of $1.68 a share.

Second-quarter sales were $3.252 billion, down from $3.267 billion in the prior year's quarter, but above the FactSet consensus of $3.181 billion. Molson Coors said its performance in the first half of the year was driven by favorable prices and favorable U.S. shipment timing. This was offset by lower volumes from contract brewing, where Molson Coors brews beer for other companies.

Related: Why Miller High Life is now on the menu at some of the fanciest restaurants in America

To ensure the brewer met supply needs during the peak summer season, Molson Coors said it increased its U.S. distributor inventories ahead of and during a strike at the company's Fort Worth brewery, which ran 14 weeks from February to May.

The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance for top-line and bottom-line growth. "Given our strong performance for the first half of the year, we are reaffirming our full year 2024 guidance which would mean top and bottom-line growth for the third straight year," Molson Coors CFO Tracey Joubert said in a statement. "And while this guidance implies challenging second half trends related to U.S. shipment timing, we remain confident in our growth algorithm which has multiple levers."

The beer maker's cost of goods sold decreased 6.1%. Molson Coors said this was primarily due to lower financial volumes, lower cost of goods sold per 100 liters and favorable foreign-currency impacts.

Related: Molson Coors's stock falls on 'cautious' outlook despite profit beat

Molson Coors shares are down 16.5% in 2024, compared with the S&P 500 index's SPX gain of 8.7%.

-James Rogers

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-06-24 0739ET

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.