Molson Coors cited marketing initiatives as one reason for its strong Q1 results in a company blog post. A strong premionization program is named as another highlight.

The alcohol company’s Q1 sales grew 5.9%, its eighth consecutive quarter of growth, for a total of $2.35 billion. On a call with analysts, executives said the company will increase marketing investments this year compared to 2022 to support further growth.

Core brands Coors Light and Miller Lite each saw double-digit revenue growth in the first quarter, with executives saying that the brands benefited from a Super Bowl ad campaign, the company’s first in 30 years. Independent research shows the positive sales trend for these brands is accelerating in Q2 while a major competitor, Bud Light, takes a big sales hit.

Eoin Treacy's view

The controversy around Bud Light’s marketing campaign hit earnings by 1% in less than three weeks and the company is in full damage control mode. On my trip to London last week, I saw at least three different locations giving Bud Light away for free. The share posted an upside key reversal today to confirm near-term support, which suggests investors don’t see lasting damage from the negative reception of its ad campaign.  
The off-colour joke has always been that drinking light beer is for the less masculine/virile segment of the population. The controversy seems to have erupted because buyers of the beer don’t like being reminded of that.
Molton Coors appears to be picking up the slack. The share broke out of a four-year base formation this week.
Premiumisation is a major theme within the markets at present. Heineken is also testing the upper side of a lengthy range.
Meanwhile, the Boston Beer company which has historically been a niche player is breaking down to new reaction lows.

This strikes me as a benign environment for long-short strategies since there is so much dispersion in the performance between winners and losers. The Citi Pure Risk US Long-Short TR Index has rebounded impressively from the February lows and that performance is likely to persist for as long as the narrowing of breadth can sustain the performance of the wider market.