** Cowen starts AB Inbev ABI.BR with "outperform" seeing a dominant position of the world's largest brewer in Middle and South America and stabilized trends in the U.S.

** "Declines in the U.S. are well-understood and are showing signs of deterioration", the broker says, adding it expects healthier trends to emerge year

** It also expects margins to recover in both Middle and South America as commodity costs ease and says both regions have markets with greater beer consumption growth than the U.S.

** "With global commodity costs also easing into FY24, we believe operating margins should also recover, especially in Brazil where ~50% of the raw materials and packaging is imported and USD-denominated", the broker adds

** AB Inbev shares are up 1.6%

(Reporting by Federica Mileo in Gdansk)

((Federica.mileo@thomsonreuters.com))