Chocolate company Hershey (NYSE: HSY) will be reporting results this Thursday before market hours. Here’s what to expect.
Hershey beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 2.2% last quarter, reporting revenues of $3.18 billion, up 6.5% year on year. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with an impressive 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 3.1% year on year to $2.98 billion, slowing from the 8.7% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $1.40 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 Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. J&J Snack Foods’s revenues decreased 5.2% year on year, missing analysts’ expectations by 4.7%, and The Marzetti Company reported revenues up 1.7%, in line with consensus estimates.
Read our full analysis of J&J Snack Foods’s results here and The Marzetti Company’s results here.
There has been positive sentiment among investors in the shelf-stable food segment, with share prices up 9% on average over the last month. Hershey is up 11% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $199.39 (compared to the current share price of $199.35).
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