Will Healy, The Motley Fool
Sat, Apr 26, 2025, 3:14 PM 4 min read
In This Article:
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway sold much banal than it bought successful 2024, truthful it apt raised immoderate eyebrows erstwhile the institution revealed its presumption successful Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ).
However, that concern has apt mislaid worth for Berkshire truthful acold arsenic tariff fears and falling intoxicant depletion person weighed connected Constellation stock. This could mean that Berkshire needs to thin more into Buffett's strategy and not less. Here's why.
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On the surface, Constellation looks similar a Buffett stock. Buffett likes "forever" stocks with merchandise request that ne'er ends. People person consumed intoxicant since the opening of time, truthful Constellation's merchandise enactment would surely qualify. Constellation besides produces the U.S.'s No. 1 beer, Modelo Especial, meaning it bought a marketplace leader, a favoritism apical investors thin to seek.
Moreover, Buffett has ever been a worth investor, and the existent authorities of Constellation Brands points to a debased valuation. Indeed, immoderate one-time charges raised its P/E ratio to 47. Still, astatine a guardant P/E ratio of 15, the banal appears to commercialized astatine a important discount.
Additionally, its price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 3.4 shows that the metric is coming disconnected its lowest levels since the opening of the pandemic. That P/S ratio fell from 6 successful 2022.
Furthermore, Buffett and his squad astir apt saw an accidental owed to its abysmal banal performance. Constellation banal had mostly tracked the S&P 500 until it stopped rising successful 2023 and declined much recently.
One of the much caller concerns is the tariff worries that caught investors disconnected guard, including perchance Buffett himself. Constellation's portfolio includes galore imports including respective Mexican beers similar Modelo and Corona and spirits specified arsenic Casa Noble Tequila. Since these products volition astir apt go much expensive, income volition apt fall, and Modelo could suffer its No. 1 position.
However, the concern opens the anticipation of a unsocial investing opportunity: the accidental to "out-Buffett" Buffett.
One mode is by buying shares astatine a little valuation. Since Buffett's squad bought shares successful the 4th quarter, they bought astatine a P/S ratio betwixt 4 and 4.4. As mentioned before, shares are disposable astatine 3.4 times sales, and since much declines are possible, 1 whitethorn conceivably bargain shares astatine a little valuation if the sell-off continues.