Hershey (HSY) closed the most recent trading day at $186.38, moving -1.52% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.64%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.47%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.52%.
Heading into today, shares of the chocolate bar and candy maker had gained 1.75% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 1.57% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 3%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Hershey in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $1.4, showcasing a 47.96% downward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $2.98 billion, indicating a 3.28% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6 per share and revenue of $11.58 billion. These totals would mark changes of -35.97% and +3.41%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Hershey. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.19% upward. Right now, Hershey possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In the context of valuation, Hershey is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 31.56. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 20.95.
The Food - Confectionery industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 228, putting it in the bottom 8% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.
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Hershey Company (The) (HSY): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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