WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Shares of Constellation Brands, Inc. were gaining
more than 4 percent in the pre-market activity on the NYSE on Wednesday after
the beverage alcohol company lifted its fiscal 2025 earnings outlook on a
reported basis, following an upbeat first-quarter earnings report on strong beer
demand. Further, the company maintained its positive outlook for comparable
earnings and enterprise net sales for the year, and also declared a quarterly
cash dividend.

Bill Newlands, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, 'Our Beer Business
continued to achieve strong volume growth well above that of its category and
total Beverage Alcohol. This outstanding performance supported the second
largest dollar share gain within the broader Beverage industry and reinforced
our significant growth outperformance relative to the entire CPG sector. ... All
in, we continue to make progress and remain focused on our Fiscal '25 outlook.'

For fiscal 2025, the company now projects reported earnings in a range of to
$14.63 to $14.93 per share, higher than $13.40 to $13.70 per share expected
earlier.

Comparable earnings are still expected in a range of $13.50 to $13.80 per share.

Analysts on average expect the company to report earnings of $13.67 per share,
according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts' estimates typically
exclude special items.

In fiscal 2024, the company's reported earnings were $9.39 per share and
comparable earnings were $12.38 per share.

For the full year, Constellation continues to project enterprise net sales
growth of 6 to 7 percent, with beer net sales growth of 7 percent to 9 percent,
while wine and spirits sales are expected to be between a drop of 0.5 percent to
a growth of 0.5 percent.

Further, Enterprise operating income growth for the full year would be 10
percent to 12 percent on a reported basis, and 8 percent to 10 percent on a
comparable basis.

Further, Constellation's board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.01 per
share of class A common stock, payable on August 23 to stockholders of record as
of close of business on August 14.

In its first quarter, Constellation's profit totaled $877.0 million or $4.78 per
share, higher than prior year's $135.9 million or $0.74 per share.

Adjusted earnings were $654.5 million or $3.57 per share for the period,
compared to $3.04 per share a year ago.

The company's revenue for the quarter rose 6 percent to $2.66 billion from $2.51
billion last year.

The Street was looking for earnings of $3.46 per share on net sales of $2.67
billion for the quarter.

Beer net sales grew 8 percent from last year to $2.27 billion, while Wine and
Spirits net sales fell 7 percent to $389.0 million.

According to Garth Hankinson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer, the consistent top-line growth and cost savings actions of Beer
Business drove strong operating income and cash flow generation in the first
quarter.

In the pre-market activity on the NYSE, Constellation shares were trading at
$269.97, up 4.26 percent.

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