Hershey (HSY) ended the recent trading session at $169.93, demonstrating a -3.2% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.07%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.37%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.03%.
Shares of the chocolate bar and candy maker witnessed a gain of 5.18% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Consumer Staples sector with its gain of 0.21%, and the S&P 500's gain of 3.94%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Hershey in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is scheduled to release its earnings on July 30, 2025. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $1.01, signifying a 20.47% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.52 billion, up 21.35% from the year-ago period.
HSY's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.91 per share and revenue of $11.5 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -36.93% and +2.64%, respectively.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Hershey should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 1.13% decrease. Hershey is holding a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now.
In the context of valuation, Hershey is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 29.7. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 22.98, which means Hershey is trading at a premium to the group.
Investors should also note that HSY has a PEG ratio of 6.45 right now. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Food - Confectionery industry held an average PEG ratio of 4.57.
The Food - Confectionery industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 220, which puts it in the bottom 11% of all 250+ industries.
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.
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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