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Hershey (HSY) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Hershey (HSY - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $225.52, moving +0.94% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.84% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.36%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.18%.

Heading into today, shares of the chocolate bar and candy maker had lost 4.27% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 7.2% and the S&P 500's loss of 10.24% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Hershey as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Hershey to post earnings of $2.07 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 1.43%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.61 billion, up 10.43% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $8.21 per share and revenue of $10.22 billion, which would represent changes of +14.35% and +13.86%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Hershey. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Hershey is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Hershey has a Forward P/E ratio of 27.22 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 25.43, which means Hershey is trading at a premium to the group.

Meanwhile, HSY's PEG ratio is currently 3.55. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. HSY's industry had an average PEG ratio of 3.55 as of yesterday's close.

The Food - Confectionery industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 95, which puts it in the top 38% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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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