The simple version

Shipments are the cases a beer company delivers to its distributors. Depletions are the cases those distributors then pass along to the businesses that sell to drinkers. The first is what the brewer sold; the second is closer to what the market bought.

Constellation Brands, which sells Modelo and Corona in the United States, reports its next quarterly results after the market closes on Tuesday, October 6. Last quarter, its beer shipments rose 1.8% while depletions fell 0.3%. Both numbers were accurate in the same quarter, because they count different handoffs.

The numbers

• Beer shipments were 113.3 million cases in the quarter ended May 31, 2026, up 1.8% from 111.3 million a year earlier, measured in 24-pack, 12-ounce case equivalents (Constellation Brands, Form 10-Q, first quarter fiscal 2027)
• Beer depletions decreased 0.3% in the same quarter (Constellation Brands, Form 10-Q)
• Beer net sales were $2,283.5 million, up 2% from $2,234.5 million (Constellation Brands, Form 10-Q)
• The company attributed $40.7 million of the beer net sales increase to shipment volume growth and $17.6 million to pricing, partly offset by $9.3 million of unfavorable product mix (Constellation Brands, Form 10-Q)
• Constellation defines depletions as U.S. distributor shipments of its branded products to retail customers, based on third-party data (Constellation Brands, Form 10-Q)
• Second-quarter fiscal 2027 results are scheduled for release after the U.S. market close on October 6, 2026, with a conference call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern on October 7 (Constellation Brands, September 10, 2026)

Two handoffs, two numbers

Constellation's filing lists distributors among its customers and defines depletions as what those distributors pass on to retailers. Shipments measure the brewer's handoff. Depletions measure the distributor's.

The company's sales figure follows the brewer's handoff. Constellation's own filing credits shipment volume growth for $40.7 million of last quarter's increase in beer net sales. Depletions, by the company's definition, come from third-party data on what distributors passed along.

So when shipments grow faster than depletions, more product moved into the distributor network than moved out of it, measured as growth rates over the quarter. When depletions grow faster, distributors sold more than they took in. Neither direction is good or bad on its own; it describes where the cases are sitting.

The actual math on the gap

The filing gives shipment volumes in cases but gives depletions only as a percentage change. That limits the arithmetic.

• Shipments: 113.3 million cases minus 111.3 million cases is 2.0 million more cases than a year earlier, or 1.8%.
• Depletions: down 0.3% from a year earlier.
• The gap between the two growth rates is 2.1 percentage points.
• The filing does not publish the depletion volume, so the gap cannot be turned into a number of cases.

That last line matters. A growth-rate gap shows direction, not size, and any case count built from it would be a guess.

What this means

Any company that sells through a middleman can report two sales figures: what it sold to the middleman and what the middleman sold on. In beer, those are shipments and depletions, and the release this week will carry both.

Reading them together answers a question neither answers alone: whether the quarter's sales reflect what customers bought or how much product moved into the distribution chain.

What this is NOT

This article explains the difference between shipments and depletions, using Constellation Brands' first-quarter fiscal 2027 filing as the example. It does not predict the company's second-quarter results, sales, guidance, or stock reaction, and it does not describe the October 6 release, which had not been published when this was written. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold Constellation Brands or any security, and it takes no view on the company's valuation or strategy. The 2.0 million cases and 2.1-point gap are our arithmetic on the filing's figures; the reading of what the gap describes follows from the company's definitions and is not a statement the company made about distributor inventory. This is not a political endorsement or criticism of anyone.

Sources

• Constellation Brands, Inc., Form 10-Q for the quarter ended May 31, 2026: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/16918/000001691826000029/stz-20260531.htm
• Constellation Brands, Inc., Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K, First Quarter Fiscal 2027 Earnings Release, June 30, 2026: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/16918/000001691826000028/stzex991_53120268kearnings.htm
• Constellation Brands, Constellation Brands to Report Second Quarter Fiscal 2027 Financial Results on October 6, 2026, September 10, 2026: https://ir.cbrands.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/345/constellation-brands-to-report-second-quarter-fiscal-2027-financial-results-on-october-6-2026-after-market-close-and-host-conference-call-on-october-7-2026-at-8-00-am-et