The Hershey Company ($HSY (+1,32 %) ) Q1 2025

Financial results

• Net salesConsolidated net sales amounted to USD 2.805 billion, a decrease of 13.8% compared to the previous year.
• Organic salesAdjusted for exchange rate effects and acquisitions, organic sales fell by 13.2 %.
• Net profitReported net profit amounted to USD 224.2 million (USD 1.10 per share), a decrease of 71.7 %.
• Adjusted earnings per shareamounted to USD 2.09, a decrease of 31.9 %.

Business development

• Consumer behaviorStrong seasonal sales in the U.S. Candy, Mint, Gum and Salty Snacks segments (including Dot's and SkinnyPop).
• Cost structureDespite increased costs, the financial situation remains stable, which enables targeted investments and acquisitions.

Use of capital

• DividendPayment of a quarterly dividend of USD 1.37 per share.
• Share buybacks: In the first quarter, treasury shares worth 125 million USD were bought back as part of an ongoing buyback program to increase shareholder value.

Outlook 2025

• Sales growth: Expected growth of at least 2% for the year as a whole.
• Profit forecast:
• Reported earnings per share: decline in the high 40 % range.
• Adjusted earnings per share: decline in the mid 30% range.
• Further expectations:
• Effective tax rate: approx. 16 %
• Other expenses: USD 170-180 million
• Interest expenses: USD 185-190 million
• Capital expenditure: USD 425-450 million
• Savings from Agility & Automation initiative: approx. USD 125 million

Strategic initiatives

• AcquisitionsContribution of Sour Strips to sales development (around +30 basis points).
• Portfolio expansion: Planned acquisition of LesserEvil strengthens the "Better-for-You" segment.

General Mills $GIS (+0,86 %) (fair-favorable, interesting)

Wal-Mart de Mexico $WALMEX* (+0,34 %) (downtrend - weak peso?)

P&G $PG (+0,05 %)

Costco $COST (+0,55 %)

Church & Dwight $CHD (+0,92 %) (very expensive - silent expansion underway? see German website)

Pepsi $PEP (+1,13 %)

Monster $MNST (+0,78 %)

Coca Consol $COKE (-0,51 %)

Lotus Bakeries $LOTB (-3,11 %)

Mondelez $MDLZ (+0,18 %)

Hershey $HSY (+1,32 %)

Most of them are still "very" expensive in my opinion, despite the current price declines.

I would be interested to know which are your favorites for a long-term investment?

The second month of 2025 is already over. Time is flying by again at breakneck speed and one event or statement follows the next this year. It's crazy what's going on at the moment and at the same time the market is somehow saying "I don't care".

Up down, up down, the markets are becoming more volatile and yet, or precisely because of this, my February was almost at +/-0.

But one thing at a time.

In February I achieved a plus of 0.8%. With my portfolio size, this corresponds to a value of almost €900. Not particularly good compared to the Dax (+3.77%), but still very respectable compared to the HSBC MSCI World (-2.49%).

Unfortunately, things do not look any better over the year (YTD).

The Dax is running away with 13.3%, while the MSCI World is bobbing along at 1.6%. Here, too, I was at least able to beat the World, but I still lag miles behind the DAX.

Overall, however, I am still very satisfied. As I don't have a lot of tech in my portfolio and my stocks are (mostly) rather stable, there is often no outperformance of the stocks and if there is, it is only marginal.

My high and low performers in February were (top 3):

$HSY (+1,32 %) Hershey +15.63%

$T (+0,68 %) AT&T +14.07%

$NESN (-0,11 %) Nestle +13.10%

$ADM (-0,65 %) Archer Daniels -8.57%

$UNH (-0,46 %) United Health -13.16%

$TSLA (+2,41 %) Tesla -27.59%

Dividends:

In February, I received a net €123.62 from a total of 10 distributions.

Compared to February 2024 (€99.26), this was an increase of 24.54%

Investments:

Due to the construction work on the house last year, the focus continues to be on building up the nest egg and saving up a "leisure account" again, as everything was really used up completely last year and only the custody account remained.

The savings plans will of course continue unabated, but individual investments are probably not possible for the time being.

Purchases and sales:

I have parted with Mercedes ( $MBG (+0,69 %) ) and Medical Properties ( $MPW (+2,05 %) ).

I then added to Lockheed Martin ( $LMT (+1,24 %) ), Hershey ( $HSY (+1,32 %) ) and Petroleo Brasileiro ( $PETR4 (-3,52 %) ).

My savings plans remain unchanged, but it is quite possible that I will stop them for the time being in order to build up investment cash again.

Savings plans (350€ in total):

• Realty ($O (-0,33 %) )
• STAG Industrial ($STAG (+0,59 %) )
• Gladstone Invest ($GAIN (-0,15 %) )
• Hercules Capital ($HTGC (+0,95 %) )
• Cintas ($CTAS (+0,81 %) )
• LVMH ($MC (-0,44 %) )
• Monster Beverage ($MNST (+0,78 %) )
• Microsoft ($MSFT (+0,82 %) )

Goals 2025:

My goal is to have €130,000 in my portfolio at the end of the year. The goal is to be achieved by reinvesting the dividend, making payments and, of course, increasing the share price. The share price increase is of course impossible to predict in any way, so the motto is: if the share price falls or does not rise enough, more cash is needed.

This comes from selling useless stuff on eBay, additional income from e.g. "neighborhood help" etc. The worse the share price, the more additional cash has to be raised.

Target achievement at the end of February 2025: 37.41%

So I'm on the right track (so far). I'm curious to see what else will happen in 2025 and hope that the crash, which seems to be getting closer and closer, will take a little longer (so that I can continue to accumulate cash).

How was your February? Are you happy so far? I think that, due to the volatility, the portfolios in February are far more spread out than they were in January or even at the end of last year.

21 days - 6.6% profit

The second short-term profit-taking besides $HSY (+1,32 %) . Here it was a three-week holding period and only 6.6%, but I am still satisfied. Today's countermovement in both shares can of course only be a short correction, but I am happy with my profit-taking ☺️

12 days ~ 10% profit 🤑

Things can go well sometimes. I only actively trade a small part of the portfolio, but this time it worked out with Hershey. Maybe I got out too early, but it doesn't matter. 10% is good in the short time ☺️

Moin moin

new month and therefore fresh 12k available for new investments. Here are my current open limit orders for week 6 ...

Everything between 2% and 10% below the current level. Let's see if there is a dip or two. I am still waiting with additional purchases, as I actually want to have a few new positions first.

$$P1KG34
$HSY (+1,32 %)
$AMT (+0,32 %)
$AVGO (+3,1 %)
$8001 (-2,44 %)

No buying advice or recommendation to buy