Skip to content
Forensic Analysis · Beverages · as of Nov 10, 2026

Boston Beer Co Inc (SAM)

A forensic read on Boston Beer Co Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
4.7
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
1
Forensic signals
12.3%
ROE
-2.4%
Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Boston Beer Co Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.7, placing it in the Safe zone. 1 forensic signal was flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.

What the filings flag

94% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns. Returned $202M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 94% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has been CLIMBING toward the limit — 46% of free cash flow two years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $22M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 104%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$1.96B
Revenue Growth YoY-2.4%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-1.1%
Net Margin5.5%
Free Cash Flow$215.6M
Return on Equity12.3%

The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Boston Beer Co Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?

Generate the AI investment read →

No credit card · informational only, not investment advice · see the track record

← Browse all forensic stock analyses

Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 10, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

See a wrong number? Report an error with the filing it should match.