Zevia PBC (NYSE:ZVIA) vs. Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) Critical Contrast

Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) and Zevia PBC (NYSE:ZVIA) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Boston Beer has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zevia PBC has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Boston Beer and Zevia PBC’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Boston Beer	-3.59%	10.36%	6.42%
Zevia PBC	-5.34%	-16.92%	-9.56%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Boston Beer and Zevia PBC, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Boston Beer	2	9	1	0	1.92
Zevia PBC	1	1	2	0	2.25

Boston Beer presently has a consensus target price of $206.82, suggesting a potential upside of 2.53%. Zevia PBC has a consensus target price of $4.50, suggesting a potential upside of 246.69%. Given Zevia PBC’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Zevia PBC is more favorable than Boston Beer.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.1% of Boston Beer shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.2% of Zevia PBC shares are held by institutional investors. 27.4% of Boston Beer shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.7% of Zevia PBC shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Boston Beer and Zevia PBC”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Boston Beer	$2.09 billion	1.01	$108.47 million	($6.79)	-29.71
Zevia PBC	$161.26 million	0.62	-$9.92 million	($0.13)	-9.98

Boston Beer has higher revenue and earnings than Zevia PBC. Boston Beer is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Zevia PBC, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Boston Beer beats Zevia PBC on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Boston Beer

The Boston Beer Company, Inc produces and sells alcohol beverages primarily in the United States. The company's flagship beer is Samuel Adams Boston Lager. It offers various beers, hard ciders, flavored malt beverages, and hard seltzers under the Samuel Adams, Twisted Tea, Truly, Angry Orchard, Dogfish Head, Angel City, and Coney Island brand names. The company markets and sells its products to a network wholesaler in the United States, as well as wholesalers, importers, or other agencies that in turn sell to retailers, such as grocery stores, club stores, convenience stores, liquor stores, bars, restaurants, stadiums, and other e-commerce retail outlets. It sells its products in Canada, Europe, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, the Pacific Rim, Mexico, and Central and South America. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Zevia PBC

Zevia PBC, a beverage company, develops, markets, sells, and distributes various carbonated beverages in the United States and Canada. It offers soda, energy drinks, organic tea, and kidz drinks. The company offers its products through a network of food, drug, warehouse club, mass, natural, convenience, and e-commerce channels, as well as grocery distributors and natural product stores and specialty outlets. It provides its products under the Zevia brand name. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Encino, California.