BUD vs SAM Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Anheuser-Busch InBev and Boston Beer both compete in beer and beyond-beer beverages, but AB InBev operates at massive global scale across many countries and brands, while Boston Beer is a much smaller U.S.-focused company built around Samuel Adams and a diversified hard seltzer and hard tea portfolio.
AB InBev offers global scale and diversification across mature and emerging beer markets, while Boston Beer offers a more concentrated bet on U.S. beyond-beer category trends with a debt-free balance sheet. Consider whether you prefer AB InBev's global scale or Boston Beer's focused U.S. innovation approach.
SAM holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. BUD has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+38.84% vs -7.50%), though SAM has the better forward P/E setup (17.03x vs 17.16x for BUD). BUD leads on both revenue growth (11.00%) and operating margin (27.34%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies similar upside for both: +13.05% for BUD and +13.91% for SAM.
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to the world's largest brewer with unmatched global scale
- Believe premiumization trends will continue to support margin improvement
- Value diversification across developed and emerging beer markets
- Are comfortable with elevated balance sheet leverage relative to peers
- Want concentrated exposure to U.S. beyond-beer category innovation
- Believe a diversified hard seltzer and hard tea portfolio can drive renewed growth
- Value a debt-free balance sheet providing financial flexibility
- Are comfortable with volatility in flavored malt beverage consumer demand trends
| Metric | BUD | SAM |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 28.3 | 33.6 |
| AI ranki | #2273 | #1988 |
| Latest closei | $84.26 | $202.28 |
| 1M returni | +9.34% | +20.63% |
| 3M returni | +3.18% | +12.28% |
| 6M returni | +17.83% | -14.43% |
| 1Y returni | +38.84% | -7.50% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | BUD | SAM |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $14.09K (+40.9%) started 2025-10-23 | $9.21K (-7.9%) started 2025-10-23 |
| 5Y ago | $17.22K (+72.2%) started 2021-10-25 | $3.99K (-60.1%) started 2021-10-25 |
| 10Y ago | $10.24K (+2.4%) started 2016-10-24 | $12.24K (+22.4%) started 2016-10-24 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | BUD | SAM |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $165.92B | $1.81B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 18.16 | N/A |
| Forward P/Ei | 17.16 | 17.03 |
| Price/Salesi | 2.65 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 17.04 | 0.80 |
| Analyst targeti | $95.26 | $199.83 |
| Target upsidei | +13.05% | +13.91% |
| Metric | BUD | SAM |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 11.00% | -3.30% |
| Earnings growthi | 124.90% | -9.00% |
| EPS growthi | +124.90% | -9.00% |
| FCF margini | +17.08% | +19.35% |
| Operating margini | 27.34% | 9.33% |
| Profit margini | 14.90% | -3.64% |
| ROIC proxyi | 11.39% | -8.61% |
| Return on equityi | 11.39% | -8.61% |
| Dividend yieldi | 1.60% | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 28.99% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | 3 yrs | N/A |
| Betai | 0.78 | 0.84 |
| Debt/equityi | 71.88 | 4.42 |
| Current ratioi | 0.66 | 1.04 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.46 | 0.75 |
Over the past year, BUD and SAM have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.27), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | BUD | SAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +38.84% | -7.90% |
| CAGRi | +38.87% | -7.91% | |
| Volatilityi | 24.31% | 37.67% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.29 | -0.15 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 2.00 | -0.21 | |
| Max drawdowni | 16.64% | 38.06% | |
| Current drawdowni | 2.57% | 22.21% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.06% | 19.89% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 6.74% | 23.13% | |
| Max daily dropi | 3.64% | 9.59% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 9.02% | 14.69% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +60.52% | -60.05% |
| CAGRi | +9.94% | -16.79% | |
| Volatilityi | 25.03% | 38.47% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.33 | -0.41 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.47 | -0.59 | |
| Max drawdowni | 33.13% | 70.05% | |
| Current drawdowni | 2.57% | 62.39% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 11.00% | 44.53% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 13.27% | 47.06% | |
| Max daily dropi | 13.33% | 15.76% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 18.66% | 19.73% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | -17.78% | +22.45% |
| CAGRi | -1.94% | +2.05% | |
| Volatilityi | 27.72% | 40.78% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.09 | 0.14 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.13 | 0.21 | |
| Max drawdowni | 69.85% | 87.67% | |
| Current drawdowni | 21.22% | 84.52% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 36.30% | 44.76% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 39.50% | 56.18% | |
| Max daily dropi | 16.01% | 26.02% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 28.50% | 25.54% |
| Category | BUD | SAM |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV | The Boston Beer Company, Inc. |
| Sector | Consumer Staples | Consumer Defensive |
| Industry | Beverages - Brewers | Beverages - Brewers |
| Core business | The world's largest brewer, with a global portfolio of beer brands sold across developed and emerging markets, including significant exposure to Latin American and Asian beer consumption. | A craft brewer and hard seltzer and beverage company known for its Samuel Adams beer brand alongside a portfolio of hard seltzer, hard tea, and other flavored malt beverage brands sold primarily in the United States. |
| Investor focus | Organic volume and revenue growth across its global brand portfolio, deleveraging progress on its balance sheet, and premiumization trends within its beer mix. | Depletion trends across its hard seltzer and beyond-beer brand portfolio, gross margin recovery, and progress diversifying beyond any single flavored beverage trend. |
- Unmatched global scale as the largest brewer provides significant purchasing and distribution advantages
- Diversified geographic footprint across developed and emerging markets reduces reliance on any single region
- Ongoing premiumization within its brand portfolio has supported margin improvement over time
- Diversified beyond-beer portfolio spanning hard seltzer and hard tea provides multiple growth avenues within a single company
- Strong distributor relationships built over decades support shelf placement across the U.S. beer and beyond-beer category
- Debt-free balance sheet provides financial flexibility to invest in new product innovation
- Balance sheet leverage remains elevated relative to many consumer staples peers following past acquisitions
- Beer volume growth in mature developed markets has faced long-term consumption headwinds
- Currency translation from its large emerging market exposure can create earnings volatility
- Hard seltzer and flavored malt beverage categories have shown significant volatility in consumer demand trends
- Smaller scale relative to global brewing giants limits purchasing and international distribution advantages
- Concentrated U.S. revenue exposure limits geographic diversification relative to larger global beer peers
Compare more than two at a time
This page is a fixed writeup on BUD and SAM. Our comparison engine is the interactive version: load up to five tickers, switch timeframes, and get the correlation, drawdown, and overlap analysis that a static page can't show.
Add three more names beside BUD and SAM, mixing stocks and ETFs in the same table — useful when the real question is which of a whole peer group to own.
AI score, forward P/E, analyst target upside, operating margin, and revenue growth are scored head-to-head, with a running tally of which ticker leads on how many metrics.
Volatility, Sharpe and Sortino ratios, maximum, current, and average drawdown, Ulcer Index, and worst single-day and single-week drops across every timeframe.
Pairwise daily-return correlation for every combination, so you can see whether two holdings actually diversify each other or just move together.
A scatter plot of forward P/E against return on equity, plus drawdown and 30-day rolling volatility charts, to separate what is cheap from what is merely beaten down.
For ETFs, a top-holdings comparison that exposes hidden overlap between funds. Every comparison exports to CSV for your own spreadsheet work.
Two comparisons a week are free without an account. A 14-day trial removes the limit and adds AI price forecasts, stock rankings, saved watchlists, and the intrinsic value calculator — no credit card required.
Want deeper AI forecasts?
This comparison page is public and free forever. Subscribers can unlock saved watchlists, full AI rankings, detailed forecasts, and interactive analysis tools.