Hershey (HSY) closed at $184.58 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.02% move from the prior day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily loss of 2.65%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 1.35%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 4.18%.
Heading into today, shares of the chocolate bar and candy maker had lost 2.33% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 0.58% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.47%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Hershey in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $1.44, indicating a 19.01% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $2.66 billion, indicating a 1.87% upward movement from the same quarter last year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $8.45 per share and revenue of $12.25 billion, which would represent changes of +33.91% and +4.81%, respectively, from the prior year.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Hershey. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent 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 remained unchanged. Hershey presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
With respect to valuation, Hershey is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 21.61. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 20.28.
It is also worth noting that HSY currently has a PEG ratio of 1.1. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The average PEG ratio for the Food - Confectionery industry stood at 1.1 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Food - Confectionery industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 188, putting it in the bottom 23% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Hershey Company (The) (HSY): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).