Bartender Fill Up My Portfolio Please! (SAM)

Shares of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. SAM are filling up investors portfolios this morning, up some 9% after the company raised its earnings outlook for this year, and next. (Full disclosure: I may have had something to do with this.) The maker of Samuel Adams beer said earnings for 2011 will come in at $3.95 per share, well above the $3.53 Wall Street is expecting. It also said it expects to earn $3.30-$3.60 per share for the rest of this year, up from its prior view of $2.85-$3.15 a share. The forecast compares with analysts' average expectation of $3.20 a share. Shipments are forecasted to rise about 12 percent, the company said. Shares have performed incredible strong over the past couple of years, up some 230% including today's gains. This begs the question, is it still a buy at these levels? It certainly isn't cheap, trading around 23 times next year's projected earnings, but for a company that is firing on all cylinders, I would not expect shares to pull back sharply, given the small float and stable shareholder base. If you haven't initiated a position in the name yet already, you could see a small 5% pull back in the name, but not much more than that. Adding to these levels here I believe will benefit your portfolio, as it continues to expand its distribution and shipping channels. I've recently thought about this name as a potential acquisition target, given its popularity among all beer drinkers. I can't see it fetching anything less than $110 per share from someone like Molson Coors TAP or Budwesier Inbev BUD, but more likely I believe the company remains independent and continues to fulfill drinkers tastes, as well as investors portfolios. Disclosure: no position