As reported earlier, RBC Capital analyst James Jones upgraded AB InBev to Sector Perform from Underperform and raised his price target to EUR 78 from EUR 77. The analyst notes that while margin growth may be elusive without volume growth, InBev profitability is likely to be "defendable" given the local nature of its brewing, where "economies of scale in production, marketing and distribution are most evident." Jones also sees little threat to the company's dividend in light of InBev's "substantial share price underperformance" of about 25% relative to the European consumer staples sector over the past two years.