Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

As a seasoned investor, you've seen countless beverage companies, so what makes Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) a standout in the fiercely competitive alcoholic beverage market right now?

The answer is a focused premiumization strategy that delivered a full Fiscal Year 2025 revenue of $10.21 billion and propelled its Beer Business to a 15th consecutive year of volume growth, driven by power brands like Modelo Especial and Corona Extra.

This strategic focus, which generated $3.2 billion in operating cash flow for FY2025, is why Constellation Brands remains the #1 high-end beer supplier in the U.S., defintely making its history, ownership, and operational model worth a closer look.

Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) History

You're looking to understand the bedrock of Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ), and honestly, it's a story of a small-time bulk wine dealer making a series of bold, transformative bets. The company's evolution from a regional New York winery to a global beverage giant with $10.209 billion in annual revenue for fiscal year 2025 is a masterclass in strategic acquisition and premiumization.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The company was established in 1945 as Canandaigua Industries.

Original location

The original location was in Canandaigua, a town in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.

Founding team members

The company was founded by Marvin Sands, who was just 21 years old at the time.

Initial capital/funding

Marvin Sands started the business with a modest initial capital of approximately $2,000, using it to become a bulk wine and spirits dealer. In its first year, the company's gross sales reached about $150,000.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's history is defintely defined by a few key decisions that fundamentally changed its business model, shifting from a low-margin bulk supplier to a high-margin, premium brand powerhouse.

The most significant pivot was the 2013 acquisition of the U.S. beer business from Grupo Modelo for $4.75 billion. This wasn't just an acquisition; it was a strategic re-rating of the company. It gave Constellation Brands, Inc. the permanent, exclusive U.S. rights to high-growth brands like Corona Extra and Modelo Especial, which now drive the majority of the company's revenue and profit.

Also, the ongoing commitment to premiumization, which is the focus on higher-priced, higher-margin brands, is a continuous transformative moment. You can see this in the fiscal 2025 results: the Beer Business achieved its 15th consecutive year of volume growth, delivering approximately 12 million incremental cases and maintaining best-in-class operating margins. This focus allows the company to generate massive operating cash flow, which hit $3.2 billion in Fiscal 2025, an increase of 13%.

• Embracing the High-End: The 2004 acquisition of Robert Mondavi for $1 billion and the later divestiture of lower-margin wine brands (like the 2019 sale of some brands to E. & J. Gallo Winery for $1.7 billion) shows a clear, sustained effort to focus capital on premium, high-growth assets.
• The Cannabis Bet: The 2017 investment in Canopy Growth Corporation, a leading Canadian cannabis company, was a forward-looking move. It positioned the company to participate in an emerging market, even though it's still a volatile space.
• Capital Allocation Discipline: In Fiscal 2025, the company returned nearly $1.9 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends, showing a mature, disciplined approach to capital management after years of aggressive acquisitions.

To really dig into how these strategic moves impact the balance sheet, you should read Breaking Down Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) Ownership Structure

Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) operates as a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, but its ownership structure is heavily weighted toward institutional investors, which is typical for a major S&P 500 entity. This concentration means that while the company is publicly accessible, a small group of large financial firms holds significant sway over strategic decisions.

Constellation Brands' Current Status

Constellation Brands is a publicly traded company (NYSE: STZ) with a dual-class share structure, which often gives greater voting power to a select group of long-term shareholders, often including the founding family. This structure ensures stability but can also insulate management from activist investor pressure, which is a key factor for any investor to consider.

For the fiscal year 2025, the company reported generating $3.2 billion in operating cash flow and returned nearly $1.9 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, demonstrating a strong cash-generating business model that appeals to large institutional funds.

You can dig deeper into the major players and their recent trading activity with Exploring Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Constellation Brands' Ownership Breakdown

As of late 2025, institutional investors-the big money managers like BlackRock, Inc. and Vanguard Group-dominate the share count. This high level of institutional ownership, which is over three-quarters of the total shares, suggests a strong belief in the company's long-term strategy, particularly its high-end Beer Division.

Here's the quick math based on recent filings, which shows where the power lies:

Institutional holdings alone were valued at approximately $19.160 billion as of September 30, 2025, highlighting the sheer scale of professional capital invested in the stock.

Constellation Brands' Leadership

The company is steered by a seasoned executive team focused on premiumization and growth, especially within its Beer Division, which has been the primary driver of its success.

The core leadership team as of November 2025 includes:

• Bill Newlands: President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He sets the overall strategic direction, prioritizing high-end growth.
• Garth Hankinson: Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He manages the financial strategy, including the company's capital allocation priorities.
• Jim Sabia: Executive Vice President and President, Beer Division. He oversees the powerhouse division that includes brands like Modelo Especial and Corona Extra.
• Sam Glaetzer: Executive Vice President and President, Wine & Spirits Division. He is tasked with improving the performance and margins of the premium wine and spirits portfolio.

A notable near-term transition is the retirement of Jim Bourdeau, the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, effective February 28, 2026, with Jeff LaBarge set to take over on March 1, 2026. This is a planned, strategic succession designed to ensure continuity in legal and governance functions.

Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) Mission and Values

Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) operates with a purpose that goes beyond quarterly earnings, centering its strategy on a clear mission to build brands that genuinely resonate with consumers. Its core values act as a cultural compass, guiding the company's pursuit of excellence and responsible growth in the beverage alcohol industry.

Constellation Brands' Core Purpose

As an analyst, I see a company that has successfully mapped its cultural DNA to its business strategy, which is why the Beer Business delivered approximately 12 million incremental cases of volume growth in Fiscal 2025. This success is rooted in a belief that elevating human connections is the ultimate goal, making the dedication to quality and market anticipation worthwhile.

Official mission statement

The company's mission is direct and consumer-focused, aiming to create products that enhance life experiences and bring people together.

• Build brands that people love.
• Create new experiences that bring people together and elevate their lives.
• Deliver value for consumers, shareholders, employees, and the industry by anticipating market trends.

Honestly, this focus on brand love is what allows them to command a premium in the market, even amidst a softer consumer demand backdrop in Fiscal 2025. They defintely see their role as more than just selling bottles.

Vision statement

Constellation Brands' vision is an aspirational declaration of its long-term ambition, pushing the boundaries of what a consumer packaged goods (CPG) company can achieve for all its stakeholders.

• WORTH REACHING FOR.
• Push boundaries with a passion to provide more for consumers, shareholders, employees, and the communities where they operate.
• Contribute to a future that is truly Worth Reaching For by embedding an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy into the business.

This vision is backed by action; the company generated $3.2 billion in operating cash flow in Fiscal 2025, an increase of 13%, which provides the capital to invest in this long-term, responsible growth. You can read more about this cultural foundation here: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ).

Constellation Brands slogan/tagline

The company's core aspirational phrase is a simple, powerful call to action that encapsulates both their mission and vision.

• Worth Reaching For.

The core values-People, Customers, Entrepreneurship, Quality, and Integrity-are the foundation of it all. For example, their commitment to stakeholders meant returning nearly $1.9 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and quarterly dividends in Fiscal 2025. That's a concrete example of delivering on the promise of their vision.

Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) How It Works

Constellation Brands primarily works by manufacturing, importing, and marketing a portfolio of high-end beer, wine, and spirits brands, with its massive, high-margin Mexican beer business acting as the core engine for nearly all its growth and value creation in the U.S. market.

The company makes money by leveraging its exclusive U.S. rights to imported Mexican beer brands like Modelo and Corona, which drive superior sales growth and best-in-class operating margins, while strategically repositioning its Wine and Spirits division to focus exclusively on higher-priced, premium offerings.

Constellation Brands' Product/Service Portfolio

Constellation Brands' Operational Framework

Constellation Brands' operational framework is laser-focused on fueling its Beer division's growth and aggressively streamlining the Wine and Spirits segment to improve profitability. The entire operation centers on controlling the supply chain for its high-demand imported beer.

Here's the quick math: The Beer division represented approximately 84% of sales in the fiscal year ending February 28, 2025, equating to about $8.5 billion, and enjoys a 40% operating margin, which is double that of the Wine and Spirits segment.

• Mexico-Based Production: Owns and operates large-scale, modern breweries in Mexico (like Nava and Obregon) to produce beer exclusively for the U.S. market.
• Capacity Expansion: Committed approximately $1 billion of its total $1.3 billion in Fiscal Year 2025 capital expenditures to expand its Mexican beer operations to meet surging demand.
• Portfolio Optimization: Completed a multi-year strategy to divest lower-performing, mainstream wine assets, like Woodbridge and Meiomi, to concentrate on a smaller, higher-growth, higher-margin portfolio.
• Cost Efficiency: Implementing a restructuring program targeting over $200 million in savings by Fiscal Year 2028, with $55 million expected to be realized in Fiscal Year 2025.

This is a capital-intensive business, but the returns on the beer side defintely justify the investment.

For more on the core philosophy driving these decisions, you can explore the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ).

Constellation Brands' Strategic Advantages

The company's market success comes down to three clear advantages: a powerful, protected brand portfolio; a best-in-class distribution model; and a relentless focus on premiumization across all segments.

• Exclusive U.S. Import Rights: Holds the perpetual, exclusive rights to import, market, and sell the Grupo Modelo beer portfolio in the U.S., effectively locking out competitors from this high-growth category.
• Unmatched Brand Momentum: Modelo Especial continues to be the primary growth engine, maintaining its position as the No. 1 beer brand in U.S. dollar sales, driven by strong appeal to a growing, diverse consumer base.
• High-Margin Beer Business: The Beer division's operating margin is targeted to be maintained at a high of 39% to 40%, providing a massive cash flow engine.
• Distribution Network Expansion: Targeting a significant increase of 40% to 50% in distribution over the next five years, aiming for 500,000 new points of distribution (POD) to further entrench its market lead.
• Agile Premiumization Strategy: The decisive pivot in Wine and Spirits to divest mainstream brands, despite a reported goodwill impairment loss between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion in FY 2025, positions the company for higher long-term growth and margin expansion in premium segments.

Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) How It Makes Money

Constellation Brands makes its money by producing, importing, and marketing a focused portfolio of high-end beer, wine, and spirits brands, with the vast majority of its profit driven by its dominant, high-margin Mexican beer portfolio in the U.S. market. The company operates on a premiumization strategy, meaning it consistently sheds lower-margin, mainstream brands to focus on products that command higher prices and stronger consumer loyalty.

Constellation Brands' Revenue Breakdown

The company's financial engine is heavily skewed toward its Beer division, a trend that has only accelerated as it divests non-core Wine and Spirits assets to sharpen its focus. Here's the quick math on where the sales come from, based on the fiscal year 2025 results:

Business Economics

The core economic fundamental for Constellation Brands is the outsized profitability of its Beer segment, which enjoys an operating margin of roughly 40%-about double that of the Wine and Spirits division. This high margin allows the company to reinvest heavily in marketing and infrastructure, like its Mexican breweries.

The company's strategy centers on a concept called premiumization, which is simply getting consumers to trade up to more expensive, higher-quality products. This is working well in Beer, where brands like Modelo Especial and Pacifico continue to see robust volume growth, with Modelo Especial maintaining its position as the number one beer brand in dollar sales in the U.S. To be fair, the Wine and Spirits segment is still navigating a transition, facing an organic net sales decline expected to be between 5% and 8% for fiscal year 2025 as it moves away from mainstream brands like the recently divested Woodbridge and Meiomi.

To offset inflationary pressures and declining volumes in some areas, the company is using a multi-pronged approach:

• Disciplined Pricing: Implementing tactical price increases and adjusting its price-pack architecture, which means offering smaller, more affordable pack sizes to capture price-sensitive consumers.
• Cost Savings: A restructuring plan is on track to deliver over $200 million in total savings by fiscal year 2028, with about $55 million expected to be realized in fiscal year 2025 alone.
• Capacity Expansion: Investing significant capital expenditures, with a target of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2025, primarily to expand its Mexican brewery capacity to keep up with the Beer segment's demand.

The Beer business is a cash-flow machine, but the Wine and Spirits side is defintely a work in progress.

Constellation Brands' Financial Performance

For the full fiscal year 2025, Constellation Brands' financial health is characterized by strong cash generation and a resilient Beer business that cushions the turbulence in Wine and Spirits. Overall Enterprise net sales are projected to be between $10.36 billion and $10.56 billion. The company's focus on operational efficiency is paying off, even with a mixed top-line performance.

• Comparable Earnings Per Share (EPS): The full-year comparable EPS guidance is a tight range of $13.60 to $13.80.
• Operating Cash Flow: Management has raised its fiscal 2025 operating cash flow target to between $2.9 billion and $3.1 billion, showing excellent financial discipline.
• Beer Operating Income: This segment is expected to drive profit growth, with operating income projected to increase between 9% and 12% for the fiscal year 2025.
• Shareholder Returns: The company continues to return capital, generating $3.2 billion in operating cash flow in fiscal 2025 and returning nearly $1.9 billion to shareholders via share repurchases and dividends.

This commitment to cash flow and premium brand investment is the playbook. You can get a deeper look at who is backing this strategy by Exploring Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) Market Position & Future Outlook

Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) is strategically positioned as the dominant player in the high-end U.S. beer import market, a segment that continues to outperform the broader beer category. You should see the company's future trajectory tied directly to its premiumization strategy, which is driving both revenue growth and margin expansion, evidenced by a projected Enterprise net sales growth of 4% to 6% for the fiscal year 2025 (FY25). This is a focused, high-margin business.

Competitive Landscape

In the U.S. beer market, which is where Constellation Brands generates over 98% of its sales, the competition is intense but clearly segmented. Constellation Brands is not the largest by volume, but it leads in the high-growth, high-margin import category, which is a key differentiator against the sheer scale of its rivals.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's deliberate shift away from lower-margin, mainstream wine and spirits brands to double down on its Beer division and premium Wine & Spirits portfolio creates clear near-term opportunities, but it also carries distinct financial risks you need to watch. For example, the Beer division aims to maintain a strong operating margin in the 39% to 40% range.

Industry Position

Constellation Brands occupies a unique position: it's a high-growth beverage company operating primarily in the mature U.S. beer market. It's a growth stock disguised as a consumer staple, but that growth is concentrated in a few powerhouse brands.

• Beer Segment Strength: The Beer division is the engine, delivering approximately a 4% volume growth in FY25, and its flagship, Modelo Especial, is the top-selling beer in dollar sales in the U.S.
• Financial Resilience: Despite the Wine and Spirits impairment, the company generated $3.2 billion in operating cash flow in FY25, demonstrating strong underlying cash generation.
• Focus on Returns: Management is committed to shareholder value, returning nearly $1.9 billion to shareholders in FY25 through dividends and share repurchases.
• Premium Portfolio Refinement: The divestiture of mainstream wine brands (like the agreement with The Wine Group in 2025) means the retained portfolio is focused on higher-end offerings, mostly priced at $15 and above.

The core challenge remains sustaining the beer segment's momentum against macro headwinds, especially when consumer spending is tightening. For a deeper dive into the company's balance sheet health, check out Breaking Down Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors. Your key takeaway is that the bet here is on premium Mexican imports continuing to win market share, and honestly, that trend is defintely still strong.