Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis - Assignment Example Recession affected various industries. Beer, being a luxury product, saw a record breaking drop in sales as the marginal propensity to consume alcohol reduced. This was due to the reduced purchasing power. High cost and low income reduced the amount that people spent on beer consumption. However, after the recession, the customers had more income to spend on luxuries and beer, thus, demand pushed sales up (WSJ; October 2, 2012). Top beer producers gained value after the recession, but their brands could not hold on their share prices, they fell. The biggest players in the industry, Anheuser-Busch Inc. saw record sales of 39.9% in 2011 and 39.7 in 2012. The firm was closely followed by Molson Coors brewing n miller brewing. The chart (iii) in the appendix shows the top beer brands in the industry Despite the competitive conditions in the United States alcoholic beverages and tobacco industry, craft beer has gained value and their brands have higher demand. The craft brewing sub-industry improved and recorded a 15% growth in 2011 and 17% in 2012. In 20122, the craft beer sector had a market share of 10.2%. The craft beer sub-industry is expected to continue with the growth trend if all economic conditions remain constant or improve. Boston beer is the biggest producer of craft beer with over 15.7% market share in the brewing industry. The company competes in both high quality and premium beers and also on low priced beer. The company has a business unit that produces premium beer under the label Sam Adams to compete with established brewing giants. Boston Beer boasts being the largest craft beer brewer in the United States. It is also ranked sixth in the brewing industry in terms of sales. The share price of the SAM as of 11th April 2014 is $234.4 per share that represented small- cap growth. The earnings per share (EPS) stood at $6.80; this implies that every share issued by the company had a return of $6.80 as of April 2014(Yahoo! Finance). This is a