Molson Coors’ splashy finish to 2006 is making investors forget the company’s recent troubles.

The Denver-and-Montreal-based brewer, aided in part by an extra week in the fourth quarter, reported a 10.6 percent gain in sales, to $1.53 billion, and a near-quadrupling of profits. Net income of $99.2 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, compared with $22.4 million, or 26 cents per share, in 2005’s fourth quarter.

The company’s stock hit an all-time high of $88.06 during Thursday’s trading before settling in at $87.03, a record closing price. It finished up 5.5 percent, buoyed in part by a report in the Brazilian media that InBev and Anheuser-Busch are in merger talks to create a global brewer worth more than $80 billion.

Molson Coors had disappointed investors with negative earnings surprises throughout 2005, often reporting declining sales volume. Thursday’s report was the opposite — beating expectations, and reporting top-line growth.

"We finished 2006 with stronger brands, positive pricing, cost savings that exceeded our goals for the year, double-digit earnings growth and strong cash generation," CEO Leo Kiely said.

For the full year, sales increased 6.1 percent to $5.84 billion. Net income was $361.0 million, or $4.17 per diluted share, compared with $134.9 million, or $1.69 per share, in 2005.

The 2005 results include some discontinued operations but do not include results before Adolph Coors Co. and Molson merged on Feb. 9. On a pro forma basis, the company said, sales increased 4.1 percent and net income increased 287 percent.

The additional week in the fourth quarter and full year added about 6 percent to fourth-quarter sales volume and 1.5 percent to the full-year figure, the company said.

Excluding the additional week, U.S. sales to retail increased 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the 2005 period. The company said it was "driven by a low-single-digit growth by Coors Light and double-digit increases by Keystone Light and Blue Moon."

Coors Brewing CEO Frits van Paasschen, head of the U.S. business, said he believes the company outperformed the U.S. beer industry by about one percentage point last year.

"In a year that was tough for American brewers from a share perspective, we did very well with our core brands," van Paasschen said.

Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Marc Greenberg told clients in a research note: "We would not chase the shares here as benefits from taxes and the extra week built a financial performance that is not matched by underlying fundamentals."