Top beer stocks for the second quarter include Carlsberg A/S (CABJF), United Breweries Co. Inc. (CCU), and Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd. (TSGTF), each of which has seen its share price rise by more than 25% in the past year.

Beer stocks, as represented by the S&P 500 Consumer Staples Sector Index benchmark, have risen 8% in the past 12 months compared with a 7% gain for the Russell 1000.

Here are the top three beer stocks with the best value, the fastest growth, and the most momentum. All numbers below are as of May 16.

Best Value Beer Stocks

These are the beer stocks with the lowest 12-month trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Because profits can be returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks, a low P/E ratio shows that you’re paying less for each dollar of profit generated.

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• Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd.: Kirin Holdings is a Japanese beverage company that produces soft drinks, beer, wine, and whiskey. The company's net income more than doubled in the first quarter due to reduced operating expenses. Revenue declined 7% from the same quarter a year ago.
• Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV: Anheuser-Busch InBev is a Belgian-based company that produces, distributes, and sells various alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, including a long list of beer brands such as Budweiser, Beck's, and Corona Extra.
• Ambev SA: Ambev is a Brazil-based company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of beer. The company also produces and distributes soft drinks and other nonalcoholic beverages, including non-carbonated beverages. Ambev is a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Fastest Growing Beer Stocks

These are the top beer stocks as ranked by a growth model that scores companies based on a 50/50 weighting of their most recent quarterly YOY percentage revenue growth and most recent quarterly YOY earnings-per-share (EPS) growth.

Both sales and earnings are critical factors in the success of a company. Therefore, ranking companies by only one growth metric makes a ranking susceptible to the accounting anomalies of that quarter (such as changes in tax law or restructuring costs) that may make one figure or the other unrepresentative of the business in general. Companies with quarterly EPS or revenue growth of more than 1,000% were excluded as outliers.

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• Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV: See company description above. Anheuser-Busch's year-over-year EPS growth figure above is skewed by a $1.1 billion charge incurred in the first quarter of 2022 when the company divested its Russian business. Excluding this one-time expense, EPS grew 8% in the first quarter of 2023.
• Ambev SA: See company description above.
• Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd.: Tsingtao manufactures and distributes beer products throughout China.

Beer Stocks with the Most Momentum

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• Carlsberg A/S: Carlsberg is a Danish company that sells different beverage products such as specialty, non-alcoholic, and craft beers. In March, Carlsberg completed its acquisition of Waterloo Brewing, a Canadian craft brewer. The company also announced the appointment of a new CEO, Jacob Aarup-Andersen, to replace outgoing chief executive Cees 't Hart.
• United Breweries Co. Inc.: United Breweries, also known as Compañía Cervecerías Unidas, is a Chile-based producer and distributor of a wide range of branded beers. The company also produces wines, spirits, and nonalcoholic beverages such as soft drinks, bottled water, and juices.
• Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd.: See company description above.

Trends to Watch for in Beer Stocks

Beer is immensely popular worldwide, but the $115 billion U.S. market is a slow-growing one. U.S. beer volume sales declined 3% in 2022 from the year before, while U.S. craft brewer volume sales remained unchanged.

Over the longer term, a major trend affecting beer producers will be climate change. U.S. beer producers are heavily dependent on grain products grown in the Pacific Northwest, with about three-quarters of U.S. hops grown in Washington state. As climate change continues to impact this region, Washington may become less viable for growing grains traditionally vital for beer production. Beer producers may have to get hops from other sources or turn to alternatives.

Advantages of Beer Stocks

Beer has a history extending back thousands of years and across many cultures. Consumers once needed to drink beer in place of water for safety reasons. Today, it remains a highly popular product that many investors regard as "recession-proof." This is no guarantee that any particular beer company will survive through any financial climate. Indeed, in recent years a large number of mergers and acquisitions have dramatically consolidated the industry, making it much harder for smaller beer companies to compete.