Hershey Fourth Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Hershey (NYSE:HSY) will unveil its latest earnings tomorrow, Thursday, January 31, 2013. Hershey manufactures chocolate and confectionery products, food and beverage enhancers and gum and mint refreshment products.

Hershey Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is for profit of 75 cents per share, a rise of 7.1% from the company’s actual earnings for the year-ago quarter. The average estimate is the same as three months ago. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate was unchanged. It also has not changed during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting net income of $3.24 per share, a rise of 14.9% from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company reported profit of 87 cents per share versus a mean estimate of net income of. The company has beaten estimates for the past three quarters.

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A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit fell 10.2% to $176.7 million (76 cents a share) from $196.7 million (86 cents a share) the year earlier, but exceeded analyst expectations. Revenue rose 7.5% to $1.75 billion from $1.62 billion.

Here’s how Hershey traded following its last earnings report 3 months ago and leading up to its upcoming earnings report this week: