Dueling Fools: Anheuser-Busch Bull

Roll the oompah soundtrack. Cue the Clydesdales.

Here comes the Bud, here comes the big No. 1
Budweiser Beer, the King is second to none
The King is coming, so clear and strong
When you say Bud you've said it all
When you say Bud you've said it all

But when you've said "Bud," have you really said it all?

Hardly. To say it all, you've got to add Natural Light. Michelob. Busch. More than 30 beer and non-alcoholic brews in total -- and interests in international leading brands from Corona in Mexico to Tsingtao in China. Inside Value pick Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD), parent company to the ubiquitous Budweiser brand and all the others, remains the undisputed king of beers, controlling better than half of the U.S. market, according to Hoovers.com. It's a company as American as Mom and apple pie -- or at least as much as potato chips and Sunday NFL football.

Even after you've named all of the beers, there's still more to say about ol' A-B. For instance, it's the nation's largest manufacturer of aluminum cans and the world's biggest can recycler. Why, Bud even runs amusement parks, from SeaWorld to Water Country to my personal favorite, Busch Gardens. Back when I was in college, two popular forms of recreation for students were (1) spending a day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, just outside town; and (2) visiting the local Busch brewery to sample the beverages. Not necessarily on separate days. And not necessarily in that order.

Biggest and best in class
Of course, Bud has fallen on hard times recently. Its trailing-12-month profits are down nearly 8% against the previous 12-month period. But here's the good news: Even at its worst, Bud remains bigger and better than the best of its competitors. Here's how the numbers break down.

Dollar figures are in millions. All data is TTM, courtesy of Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.

As you can see, Bud isn't just the biggest, generating more revenues than the competition. It's also the most profitable, generating nearly 44% more in profits per dollar than its nearest rival can manage.

And remember: This is in a bad year for Bud.

Can't keep a good beer down
I know that subhead is double entendre fodder -- but hold the chuckles while I make a point here. Bud's profits are down this year. But this is only a slump, and for my money, it's a temporary one. Just the year before, Bud saw a 12% rise in year-over-year profitability. My point being, Bud may be down today, but it's unlikely to stay there.

And here's why
Bud currently trades at a trailing P/E of 17.5. According to Standard & Poor's, that's almost unheard of in recent history. Over the past decade, Bud has traded this low only four times: in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2000. The lowest P/E the company hit was 14 -- suggesting that even if A-B stock decides to fall a bit further before rebounding, it doesn't have much further to fall.

And when the rebound comes, how high might the stock rise? Well, on average, the stock has hit annual P/E highs of 24.5 over the past decade. Applying a 24.5 multiple to Budweiser's trailing-12-month earnings, I have little difficulty seeing this stock rebounding to crest at $61 at some point -- a number that, coincidentally, jibes well with the fair value estimate recently posited by lead Inside Value analyst Philip Durell.

Get your cold beer right here
Value investors like Philip, like me, and, I'm betting, like you, know that you rarely get the chance to buy a great company when it's red-hot and firing on all cylinders. That's why you see Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) trading at 90 times earnings today, and not 19.

No, the best time to buy great stocks is after they stumble. To build real wealth, you need to buy your great stocks like you buy your beer -- icy cold.

That time is now. Get your cold Bud right here.

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Fool contributorRich Smithdoes not own shares of any company named above. If he did, The Motley Fool would require him to tell you so. We're sticklers about things like that.