Hershey (HSY) closed the most recent trading day at $238.40, making no change from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.62%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.17%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 12.91%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the chocolate bar and candy maker had gained 1.7% over the past month. This has outpaced the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 1.42% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.54% in that time.
Hershey will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Hershey to post earnings of $2.66 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 5.14%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.9 billion, up 8.77% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.39 per share and revenue of $11.23 billion. These totals would mark changes of +10.21% and +7.76%, 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. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 4.45% higher within the past month. Hershey is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.
Looking at its valuation, Hershey is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 25.39. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 22.93, so we one might conclude that Hershey is trading at a premium comparatively.
We can also see that HSY currently has a PEG ratio of 3.31. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. HSY's industry had an average PEG ratio of 3.31 as of yesterday's close.
The Food - Confectionery industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 13, putting it in the top 6% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow HSY in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
