What Should You know About The Hershey Company (HSY) Before Investing?

By Ken Smith • Monday, November 21 11:10 • Permanent Link

Shares of Confectioners company The Hershey Company jumped 2.7% today. With many investors piling into HSY without a second thought, it may be a good idea to take a closer look at the stock. Here are some quick facts to get you started:

The Hershey Company has moved 24.3% over the last year, and the S&P 500 logged a change of -15.3%
HSY has an average analyst rating of hold and is -4.31% away from its mean target price of $241.67 per share
Its trailing earnings per share (Eps) is $7.66
The Hershey Company has a trailing 12 month Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 30.2 while the S&P 500 average is 15.97
Its forward earnings per share (Eps) is $8.9 and its forward P/E ratio is 26.0
The company has a Price to Book (P/B) ratio of 15.4 in contrast to the S&P 500's average ratio of 2.95
The Hershey Company is part of the Consumer Defensive sector, which has an average P/E ratio of 24.21 and an average P/B of 4.09
HSY has reported YOY quarterly earnings growth of -9.3% and gross profit margins of 43.3%
The company has a free cash flow of $1,251,808,256.00, which refers to the total sum of all its inflows and outflows of cash over the last quarter
The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products and pantry items in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America Confectionery, North America Salty Snacks, and International. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products, including mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items comprising spreads, meat snacks, bars and snack bites, mixes, popcorn, and protein bars. The company provides its products primarily under the Hershey's, Reese's, Kisses, Jolly Rancher, Almond Joy, Brookside, barkTHINS, Cadbury, Good & Plenty, Heath, Kit Kat, Payday, Rolo, Twizzlers, Whoppers, York, Ice Breakers, Breath Savers, Bubble Yum, Lily's, SkinnyPop, Pirates Booty, Paqui, Dot's Homestyle Pretzels, and ONE Bar brands, as well as under the Pelon Pelo Rico, IO-IO, and Sofit brands. It markets and sells its products to wholesale distributors, chain grocery stores, mass merchandisers, chain drug stores, vending companies, wholesale clubs, convenience stores, dollar stores, concessionaires, and department stores. The company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

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