CluenexThe Hershey Company HSY
The Hershey Company scores average on business quality (5.6 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What The Hershey Company does
The Hershey Company manufactures and sells chocolate, confections, and salty snacks, generating revenue primarily through retail grocery, mass merchandise, and convenience store channels. Retailers and distributors purchase these branded products to satisfy consumer demand for impulse and seasonal treats.
- What it does best
Hershey dominates domestic confectionery retail, boasting a gross margin of 33.8% that outpaces peers like Mondelez at 31.2%. This advantage stems from deep retail shelf-space control and iconic brand equity that new entrants struggle to displace.
- The main risk
Surging input costs, particularly for cocoa, threaten operating margins if price increases start eroding volume demand. With revenue growth slowing down to 4.4% in the latest period, price elasticity remains a critical constraint.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin stands at 14.9% with an exceptional free cash flow margin in the 92nd sector percentile, driven by disciplined capital allocation and strong brand pricing. Scale continues to support robust cash generation despite rising input expenses.
Brand loyalty and entrenched retail distribution create a solid moat locking in everyday consumers and grocers. Its 69th percentile operating margin rank in the sector shows pricing power, though commodity costs cap further expansion.
Revenue grew 4.4% recently, reflecting a slower pace compared to historical multi-year expansions. Confectionery volumes face headwinds, pushing the company to rely more heavily on its newer salty snack acquisitions to drive top-line gains.
Debt-to-equity sits at 1.2 with an interest coverage ratio of 5.4x, leaving limited room for balance-sheet error. Free cash flow reached $2.2B recently, showing solid cash generation despite softer leverage metrics getting mixed.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on HSY
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
The Hershey Company scores average on the Cluenex quality check (5.6 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is strong, moat fair, growth slow and financial health fair.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Oct 29, 2026, before the open.
See HSY today
- Today's verdict on HSY, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “The Hershey Company (HSY)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/hsy/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.