Friday, August 10, 2012

Hershey Shares Up 4.4% on Q4 Beat; Sees In-Line 2010 View

Hershey (HSY) shares are on the move this morning, after the company reported Q4 sales rose 2% to $1.41 billion, in line with estimates, yielding profit per share of 63 cents, three cents better than expected.

Hershey shares rose $1.63, or 4.4%, to $38.44 pre-market.

The company also reaffirmed an outlook for sales to be within a 3% to 5% long-term growth target, which would translate into sales this year of $5.46 billion to $5.56 billion, which is in line with the average $5.5 billion estimate, at the midpoint of that range.

The company said it plans to increase advertising this year by 20% to 30%. The only mention of the company’s failure to make a successful bid for Cadbury PLC (CBY) a mention of a lower tax rate during the quarter of 33.6%, which the company said increased earnings by 2 cents per share and effectively offset the costs of considering Cadbury.

Cadbury’s board agreed on January 19 to be taken over by Kraft Foods (KFT) for $19.5 billion.

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