AOL Money & Finance

Bud Light vs. Miller Lite: Battle of the Brands

More

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and watch out for more Battle of the Brands posts.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been known to turn up my nose at (free) pitchers of Miller Lite, exclaiming "this [potential explicative] stuff taste like formaldehyde!" Many of my closest friends and family members, however, prefer the "tastes great/less filling" brew to any from Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD). Though everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, when it comes to the battle of the light lagers, I don't go quietly into the night with this one. Maybe it's because I was born and raised in St. Louis, which would arguably cease to function without BUD dollars. Maybe I simply prefer red to blue. Or perhaps it's because I'm not a huge fan of tasting formaldehyde (I kid!). Regardless, I stand my ground for my right to drink Bud Light, demanding it for shared pitchers and community coolers. In fact, I haven't even tasted Miller Lite in about seven years, but more on that later.

Celebrity Backers: "H.O.V.A." vs. the Nicest Divorced Guy in America

From the real men of genius to the man-law round table, both BUD and SABMiller (LSE: SAB), the London-based parent company of the Miller Lite brand, are powerful forces in the advertising business, and celebrity endorsements continue to roll in. Rap artist Jay-Z emerged from retirement ready to pitch Budweiser Select (a low-carb, 99-calorie offering) while Burt Reynolds, Jerome "The Bus" Bettis, and others sit on Miller's aforementioned round table. While not lending an endorsement in a traditional sense, who can forget Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson frequently kicking back with ice-cold cans of Miller Lite on the now-defunct (in every-which-way) Newlyweds? The brand allegiance added to Lachey's corn-fed all-American appeal (and I say that honestly as a BUD fan).

The Portfolio Potential

BUD clearly takes the hops-rich cake for American investors, as SAB trades on the London exchange (or through the pink-sheet electronic system). Better still, BUD actually looks like a decent play right now. After bottoming out in early 2006, the stock began to gain ground, motoring higher along its 10-month moving average. Just 14 months later, the shares have gained more than 25 percent and are within five points of entering new all-time-high territory.

Fundamentally speaking, BUD still controls 50 percent of the U.S. market share for all beer sold. Its forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is decent; at 16.11, it is below the average P/E ratio for the S&P 500 Index. Year-over-year quarterly earnings growth stands at more than 30 percent, and revenue growth is solid as well. If that doesn't sell you, consider this endorsement from Wikipedia: "[Bud Light] is often a beer of choice for drinking games because of its low alcohol content." Rock on! (Specifically, Bud Light is 4.2 percent alcohol, equal to Miller Lite and below the 5.0 percent content of regular Budweiser.)

The Challenge

As advised (perhaps in jest?) by my superior, Nick Perry, I drafted my husband to conduct a blind taste test ... eight samples of Bud Light and Miller Lite, not knowing how many of each I was tasting. (No, I did not undergo the test while still on the clock.) The results? I got six out of eight correct, and still prefer BUD. I found Miller to be heavier on the carbonation and lighter on the taste (and Nick, you owe me $4.99 for the six-pack of Miller we had to buy to conduct this experiment!).

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Be sure to vote in our poll for Bud Light or Miller Lite as your preferred brand, and let us know why you love it in the comments. Results of all Battle of the Brands match-ups coming soon.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+17.4610,023.42
NASDAQ+7.122,112.44
S&P 500+2.671,069.30

Last updated: November 07, 2009: 07:23 AM

BloggingStocks Exclusives

Hot Stocks

DailyFinance Headlines

Latest from BloggingBuyouts

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

    BioHealth Investor Headlines

    WalletPop Headlines

    My Portfolios

    Track your stocks here!

    Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

    BloggingStocks Partners

    More from AOL Money & Finance

    WalletPop Headlines