It has not been a good couple of years for beer company Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD). First, there was the Dylan Mulvaney debacle, a tragic backfiring of marketing. Then there was the months-long nightmare of boycotts and sales declines that followed. While the stock price has recovered somewhat in the meantime, it’s down modestly again today as a new problem has emerged: a possible strike.
If a strike does hit BUD, it will be the first such strike in nearly 50 years. The last one was in 1976, and the next one is starting to look like 2024 unless something changes. In fact, the strike is set to kick off Friday. Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said, “They are lowballing workers on wages, they’re not investing enough money in our members’ pensions, and they’ve made no firm commitment on job protections.”
BUD Dropped Millions on Super Bowl Advertising
Under different circumstances, Anheuser-Busch InBev might have been able to win some concessions from the union. After all, the economy’s looking a bit rougher than it did. People are spending less on beer. The company made a catastrophic choice in terms of potential spokes-reps with Mulvaney, though the exact nature of their involvement was somewhat unclear. But BUD just dropped several million dollars on Super Bowl advertising, suggesting that they do indeed have the necessary cash on hand to pay workers more and pay into their pensions.
Is BUD a Good Stock to Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on BUD stock based on two Buys and two Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 4.45% rally in its share price over the past year, the average BUD price target of $77.50 per share implies 24.14% upside potential.
