Can Hershey Still Offer Tasty Returns?

December 13, 2012

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E = Equity to Debt Ratio Is Weak

The debt-to-equity ratio for Hershey is high. Some people might say that you can do a lot worse than 1.92, but this is far from a comforting number. It’s also much weaker than competitors, Mondelez International (NASDAQ:MDLZ) and Tootsie Roll Industries (NYSE:TR). The balance sheet for Hershey is also negative, but very manageable.

	Debt-To-Equity	Cash	Long-Term Debt
HSY	1.92	$466.23 Million	$1.99 Billion
MDLZ	.80	$3.87 Billion	$29.51 Billion
TR	0.00	$51.69 Million	$0

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Strong

Hershey has performed very well over the past three years, far surpassing the performance of its competitors.

	1 Month	Year-To-Date	1 Year	3 Year
HSY	4.79%	21.39%	26.47%	119.70%
MDLZ	.50%	-31.00%	-29.80%	.81%
TR	5.71%	17.77%	14.64%	9.95%

At 73.31, Hershey is currently trading close to all its averages.

50-Day SMA	73.28
100-Day SMA	73.36
200-Day SMA	73.43

E = Earnings and Revenue Are Strong

Annual revenue and earnings have been consistent.

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Revenue ($)in billions	4.95	5.13	5.30	5.67	6.08
Diluted EPS ($)	.93	1.36	1.90	2.21	2.74

Quarterly earnings and revenue have also been consistent. However, there was a decrease in earnings in Q3 YoY.

	9/2011	12/2011	3/2012	6/2012	9/2012
Revenue ($)in billions	1.62	1.57	1.73	1.41	1.75
Diluted EPS ($)	.86	.62	.87	.59	.77

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