Hershey (HSY)

• Market cap: $37.7B
• 1 day: 0.70%
• 5 days: 2.99%
• 1 month: 20.64%
• 3 months: -0.44%
• 6 months: -8.12%
• Year to date: 10.41%
• 1 year: -6.36%
• 5 years: 20.58%
• 10 years: 89.16%
• Sector: Consumer Staples
• Industry: Sugar & Confectionery Products

About: Hershey is a leading us confectionery manufacturer (around a $25 billion market), controlling around 36% of the domestic chocolate space (per Euromonitor). Beyond its namesake label, the firm's mix has expanded over the last 85 years and now consists of 100 brands, including Reese's, Kit Kat, Kisses, and Ice Breakers. Hershey's products are sold in about 80 countries, albeit with just a high-single-digit percentage of sales coming from markets outside the us, including Brazil, India, and Mexico. The firm has sought inorganic opportunities to extend its reach beyond its core confection business, adding Amplify Snack Brands and its Skinny Pop ready-to-eat popcorn to its mix, Pirate Brands, and Dot's Pretzels over the past few years.

Employees: 20,030

Fund manager confidence

Based on 2024 Q4 regulatory filings by fund managers ($100M+ AUM)

113% more call options, than puts

Call options by funds: $1.3B | Put options by funds: $610M

3.5% less ownership

Funds ownership: 85.4% [Q3] → 81.9% (-3.5%) [Q4]

5% less funds holding

Funds holding: 1,373 [Q3] → 1,310 (-63) [Q4]

12% less capital invested

Capital invested by funds: $24.3B [Q3] → $21.4B (-$2.88B) [Q4]

16% less first-time investments, than exits

New positions opened: 176 | Existing positions closed: 209

18% less repeat investments, than reductions

Existing positions increased: 424 | Existing positions reduced: 519

33% less funds holding in top 10

Funds holding in top 10: 9 [Q3] → 6 (-3) [Q4]

Research analyst outlook

13 Wall Street Analysts provided 1 year price targets over the past 3 months

• Low target: $120 36% downside
• Avg. target: $155 17% downside
• High target: $180 3% downside

13 analyst ratings

• positive: 0 0%
• neutral: 10 77%
• negative: 3 23%

Barclays Andrew Lazar 33% 1-year accuracy 7 / 21 met price target	14% downside $160	Equal-Weight Maintained	10 Feb 2025
DA Davidson Brian Holland 25% 1-year accuracy 3 / 12 met price target	20% downside $149	Neutral Maintained	10 Feb 2025
Stifel Matthew Smith 59% 1-year accuracy 17 / 29 met price target	14% downside $160	Hold Maintained	7 Feb 2025
Citigroup Thomas Palmer 15% 1-year accuracy 5 / 33 met price target	17% downside $154	Neutral Upgraded	7 Feb 2025
RBC Capital Nik Modi 46% 1-year accuracy 18 / 39 met price target	4% downside $178	Sector Perform Reiterated	3 Feb 2025