Shares of Molson Coors Beverage Co. TAP edged up 0.2% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the beer brewer reported fourth-quarter adjusted profit that topped expectations but sales that came up a bit shy. The company swung to a net loss of $590.5 million, or $2.73 a share, from net income of $80.0 million, or 37 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, such as a $845 million impairment charge, adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.30 from 81 cents and beat the FactSet EPS consensus of $1.07. Net sales grew 0.4% to $2.630 billion, but that was below the FactSet consensus of $2.644 billion. A 10.7% increase in price and mix offset a 6.9% decline in sales volume, and a negative 3.4% effect from a higher dollar. For 2023, the company expects sales to increase in the “low single-digit” percentage range, while the current FactSet sales consensus of $10.99 billion implies 2.7% growth. “We have powerful core brands across our global markets that are seeing renewed strength, with Coors Light and Miller Lite in the U.S. posting their strongest combined full-year dollar share performance in a decade,” the company said in a statement. The stock has lost 4.3% over the past three months through Friday while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 3.3%.
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