The Chart of the Day belongs to the confectionary company Hersey (HSY) . I found the stock by using Barchart's powerful screening functions to find stocks with the highest technical buy signals, highest Weighted Alpha, superior current momentum and having a Trend Seeker buy signal then used the Flipchart feature to review the charts for consistent price appreciation. Since the Trend Seeker signaled a buy on 2/ 3 the stock gained 4.90%.
The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products and pantry items in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America Confectionery, North America Salty Snacks, and International. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products, including mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items comprising spreads, bars, snack bites, mixes, popcorn, and pretzels. The company provides its products primarily under the Hershey's, Reese's, Kisses, Jolly Rancher, Almond Joy, Brookside, barkTHINS, Cadbury, Good & Plenty, Heath, Kit Kat, Payday, Rolo, Twizzlers, Whoppers, York, Ice Breakers, Breath Savers, Bubble Yum, Lily's, SkinnyPop, Pirates Booty, Paqui, Dot's Homestyle Pretzels, and ONE Bar brands, as well as under the Pelon Pelo Rico, IO-IO, and Sofit brands. It markets and sells its products to wholesale distributors, chain grocery stores, mass merchandisers, chain drug stores, vending companies, wholesale clubs, convenience stores, dollar stores, concessionaires, and department stores. The company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Barchart's Opinion Trading systems are listed below. Please note that the Barchart Opinion indicators are updated live during the session every 20 minutes and can therefore change during the day as the market fluctuates. The indicator numbers shown below therefore may not match what you see live on the Barchart.com website when you read this report.
Barchart Technical Indicators:
- 100% technical buy signals
- 17.50+Weighted Alpha
- 17.34% gain in the last year
- Trend Seeker buy signal
- Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
- 8 new highs and up 3.70% in the last month
- Relative Strength Index 67.70%
- Recently traded at $247.86 with 50 day moving average of $234.53.
Fundamental Factors:
- Market Cap $50.57 billion
- P/E 28.64
- Dividend yield 1.67%
- Revenue expected to grow 7.50% this year and another 3.80% next year
- Earnings are estimated to increase 10.40% this year and an additional 7.00% next year and continue to compound at an annual rate of 9.64% for the next 5 years
Analysts and Investor Sentiment -- I don't buy stocks because everyone else is buying but I do realize that if major firms and investors are dumping a stock it's hard to make money swimming against the tide:
- Wall Street analysts issued 3 strong buy, 4 buy, 12 hold and 2 sell opinions on the stock
- Their price targets are $180 to $280 - wide range
- The individual investors following the stock on Motley Fool vote 610 to 117 for the stock to beat the market with the more experienced investors voting 138 to 14 for the same result
- Value Line gives it an average rating of 3 and has an 18 month price target of $260
- CFRAs MarketScope has a hold rating
- 34,790 investors monitor the stock on Seeking Alpha
Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, but may initiate a beneficial Long position through a purchase of the stock, or the purchase of call options or similar derivatives in the next 72 hours.
Additional disclosure: The Barchart Chart of the Day highlights stocks that are experiencing exceptional current price appreciation. They are not intended to be buy recommendations as these stocks are extremely volatile and speculative. Should you decide to add one of these stocks to your investment portfolio it is highly suggested you follow a predetermined diversification and moving stop loss discipline that is consistent with your personal investment risk tolerance and reevaluate your stop losses at least on a weekly basis.
On the date of publication, Jim Van Meerten did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
