Chocolate company Hershey (NYSE:HSY) will be reporting earnings this Thursday morning. Here’s what you need to know.
Hershey beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 3.1% last quarter, reporting revenues of $2.61 billion, up 26% year on year. It was an exceptional quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and a solid beat of analysts’ organic revenue estimates.
Is Hershey a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Hershey’s revenue to grow 4.2% year on year to $3.11 billion, a reversal from the 1.4% decrease it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $1.06 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Hershey has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates four times over the last two years.
Looking at Hershey’s peers in the shelf-stable food segment, some have already reported their Q3 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Lamb Weston posted flat year-on-year revenue, beating analysts’ expectations by 2.6%, and Conagra reported a revenue decline of 5.8%, topping estimates by 0.7%. Lamb Weston traded up 11.4% following the results while Conagra was also up 5%.
Read our full analysis of Lamb Weston’s results here and Conagra’s results here.
Debates over possible tariffs and corporate tax adjustments have raised questions about economic stability in 2025. While some of the shelf-stable food stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 3% on average over the last month. Hershey is down 2.2% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $192.32 (compared to the current share price of $179.99).
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