The Hershey Company (HSY)

FairStock Score: 61/100 — STEADY

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

I am suspicious when a stock trades at $163.05 and FairStock's Graham Number calculation is $61.16. The resulting -166.60% margin of safety is no safety at all. Hershey is a fine consumer franchise: chocolate, gum, mints, salty snacks, a low beta of 0.10, a 3.42% dividend yield, and $2.2B of trailing free cash flow. The brand gives it staying power, but quality does not automatically mean value. The financials are mixed. In fiscal Q2 2026, the quarter ended 2026-06-28, revenue was $2.8B and net income $457.7M, up from fiscal Q2 2025's $2.6B revenue and $62.7M net income. Yet FY2025 revenue was $11.7B with net income $883.3M, below FY2024's $2.2B net income on $11.2B revenue. FairStock's Lynch category is SLOW GROWER—Shrinking: profit down 7.1% a year over five years, with revenue up 7.5%. A 629.71% profit growth figure looks like a rebound from a weak base. Debt is real: FairStock shows D/E 1.30. FairStock's ROE is high at 32.81%, but ROCE is only 9.92%, suggesting leverage flatters equity returns. FairStock's P/E of 22.27 and P/B of 7.18 are not Graham bargains, and FairStock's EV/EBITDA of 14.26 is full. The 6.7% FCF yield and 3.42% dividend yield support the stock; Altman Z 3.09 suggests no immediate distress, but Piotroski 5/9 is mediocre. At $163.05, I want a larger discount for a slow grower with leverage. FairStock Score 60/100 feels about right: good business, not clearly cheap.

In plain English: Hershey makes chocolate, candy, gum, and snacks. The business is profitable and produces plenty of cash, but over the long run it has grown slowly and carries meaningful debt. At the recent price of $163.05, the shares look expensive relative to the company's assets and profit record, even though the dividend and cash flow offer some support.

The full AI analysis, bull and bear case and key monitorables are in FairStock Pro.

Data as of 2026-10-13 close · note generated 2026-10-15 · model deepseek-flash

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-06-28) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-03-29) · fiscal Q3 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-09-28) · fiscal Q2 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-06-29) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-12-31) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-12-31) · FY2023 10-K (period ended 2023-12-31)

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer