Hershey (HSY) Increases Yet Falls Behind Market: What Investors Need to Know

Company Overview - Hershey's stock closed at $187.58, with a slight increase of +0.03% compared to the previous day, underperforming the S&P 500's gain of 0.97% [1] - Over the past month, Hershey's stock has decreased by 7.73%, which is worse than the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 3.52% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.41% [1] Upcoming Earnings - Hershey is expected to report an EPS of$ 2.71, reflecting a 4.23% increase from the same quarter last year [1] - Revenue is forecasted to be $3.1 billion, indicating a growth of 2.41% compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year [1] Annual Estimates - For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of$ 9.47 per share and revenue of $11.32 billion, representing changes of -1.25% and +1.38% from the previous year, respectively [2] Analyst Revisions - Recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Hershey are important as they reflect near-term business trends, with positive revisions indicating optimism about the company's outlook [2] Zacks Rank and Valuation - Hershey currently holds a Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell), with a 0.36% decrease in the EPS estimate over the last 30 days [3] - The Forward P/E ratio for Hershey is 19.81, which is higher than the industry average of 18.64, indicating that Hershey is trading at a premium [3] - The PEG ratio for Hershey is 5.46, compared to the average PEG ratio of 3.8 for the Food - Confectionery industry [3] Industry Context - The Food - Confectionery industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector and has a Zacks Industry Rank of 103, placing it in the top 41% of over 250 industries [4] - Research indicates that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1 [4]