Beer Stocks Pull Back from 52-Week Highs (TAP, BUD, ABV, SAM, CCU, FMX)

Beer stocks have pulled back in the past few days, several of them from at or near 52-week highs. It would be easy to point to Tuesday's disappointing first-quarter results from Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP), blamed on rising costs and flat sales. But others, including Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD), have also reported underwhelming sales, especially in major markets Brazil and the United States. Molson Coors has seen the biggest drop though—nearly 10% since April 28. SABMiller (SBMRY) also announced Wednesday the retirement of its chief financial officer. Its share price is down more than 3% since April 29. Heineken (HINKY), however, hasn't yet seen much of a pullback; the stock was down less than 2% on Thursday. Heineken announced this week that it would acquire two Ethiopian breweries. Like other brewers, Heineken has seen strong growth in Africa.Other beer stocks that have seen a recent pullback include AmBev (NYSE: ABV), Boston Beer (NYSE: SAM), Compania Cervecerias Unidas (NYSE: CCU) and Fomento Economico Mexicano (NYSE: FMX). While the share prices of Boston Beer and Molson Coors have fallen in the past three months, shares of Anheuser-Busch, Compania Cervecerias Unidas, Fomento Economico Mexicano, Heineken and SABMiller are up between 7% and 16% in that time, outperforming the broader market.