Analyst speculates on Heineken acquiring Boston Beer, stock jumps

Do not take this as any more than a rumor started by financial people, but it felt worth sharing: Shares of Boston Beer Company jumped on Wednesday after Nadine Sarwat, equity analyst at Bernstein Private Wealth Management, wrote that Heineken could be a possible buyer in a potential takeover.

Sarwat pointed to Twisted Tea and Truly Hard Seltzer as the enticing products in the portfolio, and that the company’s focus on innovation might help the European giant keep pace in the U.S. market.

“Heineken have commented that they have a brand problem in the USA, not a scale problem, pointing out the spectacular success of Craft and FMBs. Whilst we agree with their diagnosis, we do see a potentially attractive logic to buying Boston Beer,” Sarwat wrote on Wednesday. “It would be a modest bolt-on for the group, but transformative for its US business.”

Stock analyst site Seeking Alpha noted that Sarwat does not believe a deal is imminent (and commenters on the site panned this as speculation purely to boost the stock price) but that such a move holds “strategic rationale for both parties.”

Relatedly, we at CBB would welcome some open speculation on our potential buyers to inflate our price too. Anyone? I’ll start: Could make strategic sense for either Mark Cuban or the WWE to add us to their portfolio. Our entrepreneurial spirit and appreciation of scripted entertainment is bound to be an asset for one them.