Molson Coors Beverage Co.’s stock fell 1.8% on Tuesday, after failing to hold early gains made after the company revealed it had swung back to a profit in the fourth quarter from a loss a year ago, topping consensus estimates.

Molson Coors
TAP,
+1.03%
earned net income of $103.3 million, or 48 cents a share, for the quarter after booking a loss of $590.5 million, or $2.73 a share, in the year-earlier period. The year-earlier number included non-cash impairment charges of $845 million.

Adjusted per-share earnings came to $1.19, ahead of the $1.12 analyst consensus, per FactSet data.

Sales rose to $2.791 billion from $2.629 billion a year ago, also ahead of the $2.781 billion analyst consensus, per FactSet.

The company managed volume, share and net-sales growth in each of its three biggest global markets in 2023, it said in a statement.

Molson Coors gained market share from rival Bud Light for most of last year, after that brand became the subject of a conservative-led boycott following the use of a transgender influencer in its marketing — sending beer drinkers to Molson Coors for light-beer alternatives. 

The company expects the market-share changes to be permanent.

“We plan to build on this momentum in 2024, with strong commercial plans, a powerful and supportive distributor network and the financial flexibility to reinvest in our business,” Chief Executive Gavin Hattersley said in a statement.

On a call with analysts, Hattersley emphasized that the market-share gains have pushed the company to a new baseline, boasting that it has achieved six years of profit growth in just one year.

“In 2023, our top-five brands around the world drove over 2 million more hectoliters than they did the prior year,” he said, according to a FactSet transcript. “This is like adding the entirety of Blue Moon’s global volume to our portfolio.”

The company’s outlook appeared promising, too, with CGA Nielsen’s latest 12-week reading showing Molson Coors gaining over three times more on-premise market share (at bars, restaurants and establishments) than rival Constellation Brands Inc.
STZ,
+0.53%

“To put this performance into perspective, Coors Light and Miller Lite each grew more dollars in the on-premise [market] than Constellation did as a total brewer,” he said.

Still, growth meant a 17.4% rise in marketing costs, with the company spending more than $50 million on promotions in the quarter.

Molson is now expecting 2024 sales to grow by a low-single-digit amount on a constant-currency basis. It expects underlying earnings per share to grow by a mid-single-digit amount and for cash flow to total $1.2 billion, plus or minus 10%.

The stock has gained 21% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.58%
has gained 22.8%.

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