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The
company's shares rose 3.8 percent to $136.25 in premarket
trading on Wednesday.
Constellation is benefiting from strong demand from the rising
Hispanic population in the United States who prefer the
company's beer brands such as Modelo Especial and from other
consumers switching to Mexican beers.
The company said in June it will invest more than $2 billion in
its Mexican operations to expand its bottling and brewery plant
in Coahuila.
Constellation said on Wednesday net beer sales rose 14 percent
to $1.02 billion in the quarter ended Aug. 31, accounting for
about 59 percent of net sales.
Net sales in the company's wine and spirits business, which
includes Robert Mondavi wine and Svedka Vodka, fell 0.3 percent
to $713.9 million, hurt by a strong dollar.
Net income attributable to the company rose to $302.4 million,
or $1.49 per share, in the second quarter, from $195.8 million,
or 98 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned $1.56 per share.
Net sales rose 8.1 percent to $1.73 billion.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.32 per share on
revenue of $1.73 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Constellation raised its adjusted earnings forecast to $5-$5.20
per share from $4.80-$5.00 for the year ending February. It had
increased the forecast in July.
The company said it now expects operating income in the beer
business to grow 15-18 percent for the full year, up from 13-15
percent earlier.
Operating income in the beer business rose 31 percent in the
second quarter, helped by higher volume sales and lower costs of
product sold.
The global beer market is set for a shake-up, with
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, making a $104
billion bid for rival brewer SABMiller Plc. A takeover would
create a colossus producing a third of the world's beer.
Up to Tuesday's close, Constellation's shares had gained about
33 percent this year.
(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by
Sriraj Kalluvila)
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