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Shares in Constellations Brands (NASDAQ:STZ) zipped higher on Thursday morning after the wine, beer and spirits seller reported strong fourth quarter earnings.

 

For the three months ended 28 February, Constellation – which owns the Corona beer brand – posted net income of US$452mln, or US$2.26 a share.

 

That’s more than a 50% increase on the US$296mln, or US$1.48 a share, it reported for the same period in 2015.

Constellation said much of the strong performance was down to improved sales of its various high-end whiskeys.

 

Total sales for the quarter came in US$1.63bn, slightly ahead of the US$1.59bn Wall Street analysts had forecast.

 

As for the coming year which started on March 1, Constellation is targeting an EPS of between US$7.70 and US$8.

 

That’s above the US$6.76 the firm posted for the year just gone, which itself was ahead of consensus.

 

Beer is likely to be the key driver this year and post growth of between 9% and 11%, while sales of wine and spirits is set to fall after the group sold off some of its Canadian assets earlier in 2016.