The damage Bud Light has done to its brand may be irreparable.
About eight weeks after the company's partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney went viral sales were down 24% year over year compared to Memorial Day weekend last year.
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It seems at this point that the best the company can hope for is to wait out the controversy until the fury over their misstep subsides, but the company can kiss a certain percentage of its business goodbye permanently, according to a new Bernstein note.
Anheuser Busch In-Bev (BUD) Bud Light's parent company, can expect a "permanent 15% haircut," to Bud Light sales, Bernstein analysts Nadine Sarwat and Trevor Stirling wrote in a note, according to Forbes.
Bernstein also lowered its overall 2023 profit forecast for the company by 6.7%.
Despite that grim outlook for Bud Light, the firm is still bullish on Anheuser Busch's stock due to its current price to earnings ratio of 15, its lowest in over a decade.
The firm placed a $71.60 per share price target on the stock, a 30% upside from the stock's closing price of nearly $55 per share.
Despite the falling sales, Bud Light is still, by far, the country's most popular beer, according to CNN.
Bud Light has made up over 35% of domestic beer sales this year through May 27. Coors Light is in second place with 21.6% of the market.
But that lead has slipped considerably in recent weeks.
In the week ended May 27, Bud Light controlled 28.8% of of the market compared to Coors Light's 25.6% market share.
