# The Hershey Company (HSY) — Stock CV

The Hershey Company is a $32.7B consumer staples company. Revenue grew 7.7% over the last year, it keeps 12¢ of every dollar of sales as profit, and its net debt equals ~1.8 years of free cash flow. It trades at 27.9× earnings.

> Hershey is a leading US confectionery manufacturer (in a $55 billion market, according to Euromonitor), controlling more than 35% of the domestic chocolate aisle.

## Identity

- **Ticker**: HSY
- **Sector**: Consumer Defensive
- **Industry**: Sugar & Confectionery Products
- **Headquarters**: HERSHEY, PA
- **Employees**: 19 595
- **Website**: https://www.thehersheycompany.com
- **Market cap**: $32.7B
- **Last price**: $162.74
- **Financial profile**: Strained

## Vitals (TTM)

- **Revenue**: $12.2B
- **Net income**: $1.49B
- **Free cash flow**: $2.23B
- **Net debt**: $3.97B
- **P/E**: 27.9
- **Revenue growth (YoY)**: 7.7%

## Skills (profile scores, 0–100)

| Pillar | Score |
|---|---|
| Valuation | 52 |
| Growth | 37 |
| Profitability | 77 |
| Health | 42 |
| Quality | 90 |
| Moat | 88 |

## Qualifications (beginner checklist) — 8 of 11 passed

- [x] Revenue growing — +7.7% YoY
- [x] Profitable — $1.49B TTM
- [ ] Profit growing — -18.3% YoY
- [x] Generates cash — $2.23B TTM
- [x] Debt under control — ~1.8y of cash flow to repay
- [x] Established company — $32.7B market cap
- [ ] Not printing shares — +67.4% shares over ~5y
- [x] Proven track record — 10/10 profitable years
- [ ] Financially stable — health score 30/100
- [x] Pays a dividend — yield 6.75%
- [x] Valuation not extreme — P/E 27.9

## Experience (career milestones)

- **FY2024** — Best year on record: $2.22B net income
- **FY2022** — Revenue crossed $10B: $10.4B for the year
- **2017** — Hershey acquired Amplify Snack Brands, the Austin, Texas-based manufacturer of SkinnyPop in an all-cash…
- **FY2016** — Profitable every year on record: 10 consecutive profitable years in our data
- **FY2016** — Revenue already above $1B: $7.44B in first reported year
- **FY2016** — Positive free cash flow every year since: 10-year streak
- **2002** — This became a sticking point in Hershey's failed attempt to attract a serious buyer in 2002
- **1988** — Hershey's acquired the rights to manufacture and distribute many Cadbury-branded products in the United…
- **1986** — Hershey's made a brief foray into cough drops when it acquired the Luden's cough drops brand
- **1969** — Only six years after the Reese/Hershey merger, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups became the Hershey Company's top…
- **1951** — The Hershey Industrial School was renamed the Milton Hershey School in 1951
- **1948** — Mars bought out Murrie and became one of Hershey's main competitors
- **1940** — An affiliate of the American Federation of Labor successfully organized Hershey's workers under the…
- **1899** — He developed the Hershey process, which is less sensitive to milk quality than traditional methods
- **1894** — The Hershey Chocolate Company was founded in 1894 as a subsidiary of Lancaster Caramel Company

## Strengths

- Strong cash conversion — FCF is 18.3% of revenue
- Interest covered 7.4× by operating earnings

## Watch-outs

- None stand out in the data.

## Track record

| Year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | $8.97B | $1.48B | $1.59B |
| FY2022 | $10.4B | $1.64B | $1.81B |
| FY2023 | $11.2B | $1.86B | $1.55B |
| FY2024 | $11.2B | $2.22B | $1.93B |
| FY2025 | $11.7B | $883M | $1.82B |

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Source: https://stockcv.com/HSY — derived from company filings; may be delayed or incomplete. Information, not investment advice.