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HSHSY

The Hershey Company

$HSY·$35B·Food Confectioners·Consumer Defensive
$174.72+2.6%YTD-4.0%1Y+6.4%
Mentions · last 7 days
2026-07-09: 79 posts2026-07-10: 94 posts2026-07-11: 32 posts2026-07-12: 61 posts2026-07-13: 102 posts2026-07-14: 30 posts2026-07-15: 30 posts434+2%
Price updated 9h ago·X counts updated 1d ago
HSHSY
$HSYThe Hershey Company
$174.72+2.61%434 posts+2%
AI analysisFundamentalsVoices on X
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AI verdict & sentimentAI analysisGenerated by AI from underlying data

Today's AI verdict on what's driving $HSY, plus how loud the X conversation is and which way it's leaning.

AI analysis

TickerTalks’ read on the fundamentals and what’s driving the move.

Proven numbersWinding up for a moveAI verdict · as of 2026-07-17

Trading in a tight range and building pressure — a move looks likely soon, but the direction isn't clear yet.

Hershey coiled at 17% of range with 6% FCF yield — the salty-snacks push is the specific fresh lever.

Hershey is the US confectionery leader now specifically pushing into salty snacks as a Frito-Lay competitor — the specific portfolio-diversification that has re-anchored the equity thesis. The stock is at 17% of its 52-week range going into July 30 earnings.

Why the setup is a genuine coil:

  • Fundamentals are quality-defensive: 14% operating margin, 11% return on invested capital, and 5.8% free cash flow yield at 33.5x TTM P/E — those are the specific numbers behind Hershey's compounder framing, though the multiple is elevated.
  • The GLP-1-user commentary is a specific positive tell: the CEO's public statement that GLP-1 users still consume confectionery as a treat in smaller portions reframes the specific structural-demand risk that was compressing the multiple.
  • The salty-snacks push is the specific fresh lever: pushing to compete with Frito-Lay creates a specific PEP-alternative dynamic — meaning Hershey's growth optionality is now broader than confectionery alone.
  • The check is the Hershey Trust selling: the Milton Hershey School Trust distributed $15.8M in the last week — that's the specific institutional shareholder pattern that keeps the multiple compressed even as the story rebuilds.

July 30 earnings is the trigger. A number confirming salty-snacks traction plus stable confectionery volumes extends the leg; a soft confectionery print with continued Trust selling is the specific setup for the coil to break lower.

Agrees with X sentimentX is bullish on the GLP-1 framing, the salty-snacks push, and the institutional-buying signal, and the fundamentals justify a re-rate — 14% operating margin at Hershey's scale is durable. The check the corpus isn't sizing is the $15.8M of Hershey Trust selling in the last week; that's the specific ongoing supply that has kept the multiple compressed.

What to watch: The July 30 print — salty-snacks segment revenue, confectionery volume trends, and any commentary on GLP-1-driven demand. Above-consensus salty-snacks plus stable confectionery extends the leg; a soft confectionery print with continued Trust selling continues the coil.

On the calendar: 2026-07-30 — Q2 earnings

X sentiment

What the X crowd is saying right now — descriptive, summarised from the day’s posts.

Bullish sentiment5 posts analyzed · as of 2026-05-19

Hershey draws bullish positioning as the CEO confirms GLP-1 users still consume confectionery as a treat in smaller portions, and the company is pushing to become a stronger salty-snacks competitor to Frito-Lay versus PEP. Trading systems flag major institutional buying with a $250 target implying roughly 32% upside, and traders frame HSY as a sleeper nobody is talking about with the chart looking clean from $185 to $195. Tone is positive.

Read the AI verdict + X sentiment for $HSY

  • One-line verdict on what's driving the move — fundamentals, momentum, both, or an event
  • Next dated catalyst when there is one (earnings, deal closing, activist clock)
  • X crowd read with bullish/bearish call + post volume
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What it does

Plain-English summary of the business — what they sell and how they make money.

Makes and markets Reese's, Kit Kat, and SkinnyPop snack brands sold through US grocery and convenience channels.

Industry overviewAI analysisGenerated by AI from underlying data

Where Food Confectioners sits in its cycle right now — and what that implies for $HSY.

Food Confectioners · Consumer Defensive

No material change from last week — falling cocoa prices after months of price inflation allow Mondelez to expand gross margins on Oreo and Cadbury.

What this means for $HSY

Direct beneficiary — Makes and markets Reese's, Kit Kat, and SkinnyPop snack brands sold through US grocery and convenience channels; core operations sit in the path of the falling cocoa prices unlocking confectionery margin expansion.

Top industry ETF

$XLPConsumer Staples Select Sector SPDR
+10.4%YTD
+6.8%1Y

Fundamentals & catalyst

Profitability, valuation, and the next earnings event — at a glance, with rule-of-thumb signals.

Key ratios

P/E
33.5How much investors are paying per dollar of profit the company actually earned in the last 12 months. Lower means the stock looks cheaper relative to earnings.~15–25 is typical for the S&P 500; high-growth names trade 30+; hyper-growth or speculative can be 100+ or negative.
ROIC
10.9%What percentage return the business earns on every dollar of capital (equity + debt) deployed in operations. The cleanest measure of business quality.Above ~15% is high-quality; consistently above 25% suggests a real moat. Below the company's cost of capital is value-destroying.
Op margin
14.1%Operating profit (after sales, marketing, R&D, and overhead but before interest and taxes) as a percentage of revenue. The clearest view of how well the underlying business is run.Mature business above 20% is healthy; software businesses can run 30%+; commodity / retail businesses operate in single digits.
FCF yield
5.8%Free cash flow (operating cash flow minus capex) divided by the company's market cap. The cash-on-cash return you'd get owning the whole business at today's price.Above ~5% is attractive; below ~2% means you're paying up for growth. Capital-light businesses (software) run higher than capital-heavy ones (utilities).
P/S
3.1Same idea as P/E but per dollar of revenue. Useful for companies that aren't profitable yet, where P/E is meaningless.Under ~2 is cheap; software / SaaS often runs 8–15; well above 20 implies the market is pricing in very high future growth.
ROE
23.7%Net income as a percentage of shareholders' equity. Similar to ROIC but counts only the equity side.Above 20% is strong, but can be inflated by leverage — a heavily indebted company can show high ROE with weak underlying ROIC.
Gross margin
34.8%Revenue minus the direct cost of producing what was sold, as a percentage of revenue. The first read on whether the product is structurally profitable.Software / SaaS is typically 70%+; consumer goods 30–50%; commodity / hardware businesses can be under 20%.
D/E
1.1Total debt divided by shareholders' equity. Measures how much the business runs on borrowed money versus owner capital.Under 1 is conservative; 1–2 is typical for mature businesses; over 2 is leveraged and more sensitive to interest rates.

Past earnings

QuarterReportedActualEstimateSurprise
Q1 2026Apr 30, 2026$2.35$2.04+15.2%
Q4 2025Feb 5, 2026$1.71$1.40+22.1%
Q3 2025Oct 30, 2025$1.30$1.07+21.5%
Q2 2025Jul 30, 2025$1.21$0.99+21.9%
Next earningsThu, Jul 30·consensus EPS $1.46

Quarterly trend

QuarterRevenueYoYGrossOpEPSFCF
Q1 FY26$3.1B+10.6%39.4%20.6%$2.19$354.2M
Q4 FY25$3.1B+7.0%37.0%14.4%$1.62$714.9M
Q3 FY25$3.2B+6.5%31.6%12.9%$1.36$1.1B
Q2 FY25$2.6B+26.0%30.5%7.4%$0.31$-46.5M

Forward consensus

5-year forecast · up to 16 analysts
FYRevenueRangeEPSRangeAnalysts
FY26$12.3B$12.2B – $12.4B$8.43$8.27 – $8.5516
FY27$12.6B$12.4B – $12.8B$9.96$9.42 – $10.3516
FY28$12.9B$12.9B – $12.9B$10.79$10.14 – $11.4313
FY29$13.2B$13.1B – $13.4B$11.35$11.20 – $11.5312
FY30$13.9B$13.7B – $14.0B$12.41$12.24 – $12.616

Setup & momentum

Volume, range, and moving-average position — the technical setup driving short-term moves.

Right now

Vol vs 30dToday's traded share volume divided by the average over the prior 30 trading days. ≥3× signals unusual interest; below 1× is quiet.0.6×Today's traded share volume divided by the average over the prior 30 trading days. ≥3× signals unusual interest; below 1× is quiet.
52w rangeWhere the latest close sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Above 80% is extended; below 30% is basing or in a downtrend.17%Where the latest close sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Above 80% is extended; below 30% is basing or in a downtrend.
vs 50d MALatest close vs the 50-day simple moving average. Positive = short-term trend is up.-4.4%Latest close vs the 50-day simple moving average. Positive = short-term trend is up.
vs 200d MALatest close vs the 200-day simple moving average. Positive = long-term trend is up.-9.4%Latest close vs the 200-day simple moving average. Positive = long-term trend is up.

Float & profile

FloatMid float · 199.0M shFree-float shares — the slice of issued stock actually available to trade. Lower buckets squeeze harder on a catalyst.Traded today0.7% of floatToday's volume as a percent of the free float. Above 5% on a single day is unusually high turnover for the available share count.β0.105-year weekly beta vs the S&P 500. Above 1.5 means the stock typically moves more than the index; below 0.8 moves less.

Insider activity

Recent open-market buys and sells by officers and directors — flagged when multiple insiders cluster.

Recent transactions

SellJul 15Trust Co Hershey10% owner10.0K sh$1.7MSellJul 14Trust Co Hershey10% owner10.0K sh$1.7MSellJul 13Trust Co Hershey10% owner10.0K sh$1.8MSellJul 10Trust Co Hershey10% owner10.0K sh$1.7MSellJul 9Trust Co Hershey10% owner10.0K sh$1.7MSellJul 8Trust Co Hershey10% owner10.0K sh$1.8MSellJul 7Trust Co Hershey10% owner10.0K sh$1.8MSellJul 6Trust Co Hershey10% owner10.0K sh$1.8MSellJul 2Cordel Robbin-cokerDirector124 sh$22KSellJul 2Trust Co Hershey10% owner10.0K sh$1.8M
1–10 of 55
+ 15 other (15 awards) in window

See when $HSY insiders are putting their own money in

  • Real-time open-market buys and sells from Form 4 filings
  • Cluster-buy detection when multiple insiders pile in at once
  • 30 / 60 / 180-day windows so you can spot building conviction
Free, forever. No credit card.

SEC filings

Material 8-K, 13D, S-3, and 424B5 events from the last 180 days — the filings that actually move the price.

Recent material filings

3New insider — initial holdingsJul 63
AI summary

Joseph Ryangho Park, newly appointed Director of The Hershey Company (HSY), filed a Form 3 on July 6, 2026 (effective June 29, 2026) disclosing ownership of 0 shares beneficially owned. Routine administrative filing for a new board member.

3New insider — initial holdingsJun 303
AI summary

Mitchell Andrew Arends was appointed SVP & Chief Supply Chain Officer at The Hershey Company effective June 22, 2026, and reports 0 common shares owned. Routine initial Section 16 officer disclosure for a new C-suite appointment at the large-cap confectionery company.

8-KOfficer or director changeJun 98-K — Item 5.02: Officer or director change
AI summary

The Hershey Company's Board appointed Joe Park, EVP and Chief Digital and Information Officer at State Farm (previously Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Yum! Brands), to its Board of Directors effective June 29, 2026. Park will serve on the Audit and Finance and Risk Management Committees and is classified as independent under NYSE standards. Routine board addition — Park's digital and AI background (Byte by Yum!) adds technology transformation expertise to Hershey's oversight.

8-KOfficer or director changeMay 288-K — Item 5.02: Officer or director change · Item 7.01: Press release / Reg FD
AI summary

The Hershey Company announced on May 28, 2026 that Jason Reiman, Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, will retire in Q2 2027, stepping down from his current operational role on June 22, 2026 while remaining as SVP of Supply Chain Modernization through the transition period. A replacement has not yet been named. Hershey also released a Regulation FD presentation slide deck alongside the officer change announcement. The retirement is planned and orderly, representing a manageable leadership transition for one of the company's key operational functions.

3New insider — initial holdingsMay 133
AI summary

Form filed by More than One Reporting Person Table I - Non-De filed a Form 3 (initial ownership statement) for HSY on 2026-05-13, initiating required Section 16 reporting. Role: of Reporting Person. Form 3 is a mandatory administrative filing upon first becoming an insider or 10%+ holder; it does not reflect a purchase or sale event.

8-KShareholder voteMay 88-K — Item 5.07: Shareholder vote
AI summary

HSY held its Annual Meeting of stockholders around 2026-05-08 (8-K Item 5.07). Stockholders elected 10 directors to the board. A non-binding say-on-pay vote on executive compensation was conducted. Independent auditor ratification was approved. Routine governance event — monitor for unusually high withhold votes as an activist signal.

8-KOfficer or director changeApr 148-K — Item 5.02: Officer or director change
AI summary

HSY disclosed a personnel change (8-K Item 5.02, dated 2026-04-14). An executive departure and a new appointment are both reported. President, US of The Hershey Company. Personnel changes are generally administrative; materiality depends on seniority and circumstances.

8-KPress release / Reg FDMar 318-K — Item 2.02: Earnings release · Item 7.01: Press release / Reg FD
AI summary

HSY reported period ending 2026-03-31 financial results (8-K Item 2.02). Investors should review the full earnings press release and any management guidance for forward outlook.

+ 10 other (3 13Gs · 2 earnings 8-Ks · 2 proxys · 1 SD) in window

Recent news

Latest headlines from major outlets, sourced and timestamped — context for whatever just moved.

Hershey margin recovery expected to begin in Q2, but Jefferies stays on sidelines over volume concernsproactiveinvestors.com·15h agoHershey margin recovery expected to begin in Q2, but Jefferies stays on sidelines over volume concernsproactiveinvestors.com·19h agoHershey (HSY) Stock Dips While Market Gains: Key Factszacks.com·3d agoHershey: A Cautious 'Buy' As Margins Begin To Recover (Upgrade)seekingalpha.com·4d agoHershey (HSY) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: Here's Whyzacks.com·8d ago

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Voices on X · last 7 days

No standout posts about $HSY on X in the last 7 days.

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