Hershey (HSY) closed at $167.44 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.58% move from the prior day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.51%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 2.66%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.71%.
The chocolate bar and candy maker's shares have seen a decrease of 0.92% over the last month, not keeping up with the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 2.1% and outstripping the S&P 500's loss of 8.86%.
The upcoming earnings release of Hershey will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on May 1, 2025. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $1.94, signifying a 36.81% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.82 billion, down 13.25% from the prior-year quarter.
For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $6.10 per share and a revenue of $11.42 billion, signifying shifts of -34.9% and +1.94%, respectively, from the last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Hershey. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.28% lower. Hershey currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Hershey has a Forward P/E ratio of 27.3 right now. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 22.96 for its industry.
It's also important to note that HSY currently trades at a PEG ratio of 5.93. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Food - Confectionery industry had an average PEG ratio of 4.38 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Food - Confectionery industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 89, this industry ranks in the top 36% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming 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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