[Reporter's note: This is the second part of a two-part series, in which we explore the pros and cons of investing in Anheuser-Busch InBev.]

Should investors hop in and invest in Anheuser-Busch InBev? If you ask ING Wholesale Banking analyst Gerard Rijk, the answer is a big “Yes.” Anheuser-Busch InBev is one of ING’s top picks.

The upcoming half-year results should emphasize Anheuser-Busch InBev’s qualities and the need to raise earnings estimates, Rijk wrote to investors recently. In Rijk’s view, the consensus forecasts for the company’s earnings (before interest, taxes and depreciation) and earnings per share are 10 percent and 20 percent too low, respectively.

Wow. That is an impressive endorsement of the world’s biggest brewer. In the second quarter, A-B InBev’s results “will likely be characterized by top-line resilience and continued synergies,” Rijk wrote in a June 24 research note.

Rijk said there are five big reasons why investors should remain positive on Anheuser-Busch InBev:

1. A broad group of lobby groups representing industries in beer, grain/malt, advertisers and unions have dampened the threat of an excise tax hike, which was floated as one way to help pay for health care restructuring.
2. Resilience in the company’s Brazilian and U.S. businesses, which represent 80 percent of its results.
3. A-B InBev’s price increases on a global scale are lower than that of its competitors. This better fits the
   current consumer climate, in which people are choosing cheaper beers.
4. A-B InBev is on track to cut $2.25 billion in costs. Brewery operations, wholesalers and suppliers could all be squeezed for cost savings.
5. The “divestment climate” is improving: Bond issues can get more favourable terms for the brewer, and Central European assets can be sold for an estimated $2 billion. All of this is good news for A-B InBev, which has an estimated $4.5 billion of asset sales still to do.

There you have it. Who is right about A-B InBev: the bulls or the bears? We honestly don’t know. But an interesting debate is shaping up.

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