Hershey Earnings: Steady Growth and Rising Profitability

Investors had been optimistic heading into Hershey's (NYSE: HSY) third-quarter earnings report. Through mid-October, the stock roughly doubled the 20% gain in the wider market in 2019 thanks to encouraging signs of firming demand trends and rising profitability. Yet this optimism pushed shares to a rich valuation that could only be supported by positive earnings momentum.

Last week, Hershey gave bullish investors some good news on the profit margin front that could protect the stock's recent rally. At the same time, however, the company has some work to do in recapturing its prior market-thumping sales growth rate.

Let's take a closer look.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com