Hershey (HSY) Stock Falls Amid Market Uptick: What Investors Need to Know

Hershey (HSY) ended the recent trading session at $155.31, demonstrating a -1.25% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.12%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.52%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.23%.The chocolate bar and candy maker's shares have seen a decrease of 11.74% over the last month, not keeping up with the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 7.43% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.45%.The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Hershey in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is scheduled to release its earnings on February 6, 2025. In that report, analysts expect Hershey to post earnings of $2.38 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 17.82%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $2.86 billion, showing a 7.55% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Hershey. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.8% lower. Right now, Hershey possesses a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).Digging into valuation, Hershey currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 19.86. This denotes a premium relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 18.96.Also, we should mention that HSY has a PEG ratio of 4.31. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Food - Confectionery stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.56 based on yesterday's closing prices.The Food - Confectionery industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 220, putting it in the bottom 13% of all 250+ industries.The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.Free: 5 Stocks to Buy As Infrastructure Spending SoarsTrillions of dollars in Federal funds have been earmarked to repair and upgrade America’s infrastructure. In addition to roads and bridges, this flood of cash will pour into AI data centers, renewable energy sources and more.In, you’ll discover 5 surprising stocks positioned to profit the most from the spending spree that’s just getting started in this space.Download How to Profit from the Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Boom absolutely free today.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Hershey Company (The) (HSY): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks