(FORTUNE Magazine) – In recent years the King of Beers has not been the king of stocks. In fact the share price of Budweiser parent Anheuser-Busch (BUD, $47) has been more or less flat since late 2000. However, in early March, when we noticed a company director snapping up nearly $500,000 in shares just as the stock approached a two-year low, we thought it might be time to take a closer look.

Turns out that the director was Carlos Fernandez, CEO of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, now 50%-owned by Anheuser-Busch. The St. Louis beer behemoth has long been tethered to the slow-growth U.S. market--and criticized for its lack of enterprise abroad. But that's changing. Last year it outbid SABMiller to take control of Harbin Brewery Group, China's fourth-largest brewer. In 2004, 25% of earnings growth came from international beer sales.

While overall profit gains are likely to remain incremental, "at this level, the downside is priced into the stock," says Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Robert van Brugge. Considering BUD's strong cash flow, its 2% dividend yield, and the fact that its trailing P/E of 17 is 12% below the S&P 500 average, it might make sense to have what Carlos is having. -- Oliver Ryan