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Most of The Hershey Company’s revenue comes from its North American confectionery business, including Hershey’s, Reese’s and Kisses. The United States is its main market. It also sells salty snacks such as SkinnyPop popcorn and Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels, while international sales form a smaller part of the business.
Distributors and retailers buy its products for resale to consumers. McLane Company is Hershey’s largest customer and accounts for a substantial share of sales; it is also the primary distributor of Hershey products to Walmart. This makes McLane an important link between Hershey and shoppers.
The business depends on consumers continuing to buy its brands and on managing ingredient costs, especially cocoa, its most significant chocolate raw material. Hershey buys cocoa products from third-party suppliers and uses higher prices or smaller products to help offset rising costs, but those changes can reduce the quantity consumers buy.
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Every company claims an edge. Each one is checked against hard numbers like margins and returns: which hold, and which line gives way first.
Hershey’s results hinge on cocoa costs and confectionery demand, so also watch privately held rivals Mars and Ferrero, which are missing from this list.
Mondelēz competes with Hershey for chocolate and packaged-snack purchases, and cocoa costs pressure both chocolate businesses. Watch how its Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka and Toblerone chocolates fare as higher costs test what consumers will pay.
Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. competes with Hershey for candy purchases and shelf space at grocery, convenience, discount and mass-market retailers. Its ability to secure shelf space and sell candy at different retail price points offers a read on the competition facing Hershey’s confectionery business.
Utz Brands, Inc. directly challenges Hershey’s U.S. salty-snack business by selling pretzels, ready-to-eat popcorn and other salty snacks. Watch its branded salty-snack sales and retailer shelf access for competition facing Hershey’s Dot’s pretzels and popcorn brands.
PepsiCo’s snack foods compete with Hershey’s popcorn, pretzels and other salty snacks for shoppers and retailer shelf space. Its North American food sales to distributors and retailers—not its beverage sales—are the relevant business to watch for this rivalry.
Campbell’s Snyder’s of Hanover, Snack Factory and other retail snack brands compete with Hershey’s pretzels and salty snacks. Watch Campbell’s U.S. Snacks business, particularly those two brands, for competition facing Hershey’s Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels.
Conagra’s Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP competes with Hershey’s SkinnyPop and LesserEvil for consumers’ packaged-popcorn purchases.
General Mills competes with Hershey for snack-bar, savory-snack and other packaged-snack purchases. Its nutrition bars and savory snacks are the products to watch as Hershey tries to reach consumers in more snacking occasions.
Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. earningsTR
Tootsie Roll’s report will show how its candy sales are faring, giving a read on the competition Hershey faces for candy purchases and retail shelf space.
Look at Tootsie Roll’s candy sales alongside any reported volume and pricing detail to see what is driving them. Stronger sales and volume would point to a more competitive rival for the candy shelf the companies share. If volume weakens and sales growth mainly reflects higher prices, the report offers less evidence that Tootsie Roll is winning consumers from Hershey.
The Hershey Company earningsThis company
Hershey’s North America Confectionery business has lost volume after price increases, and this report will show whether pricing can sustain sales and offset pressure from cocoa and other costs.
Read North America Confectionery volume alongside sales growth from pricing, then check whether gross margin improves. Stable volume with a recovering margin would show that consumers are still buying and that pricing and productivity are beginning to absorb costs. Further volume declines with continued margin pressure would show that higher prices are hurting demand before sales gains can make up for costs.
Mondelez International, Inc. earningsMDLZ
Mondelēz’s report will show whether consumers are still buying its chocolate at higher prices, a read on the demand and margin test Hershey’s chocolate business shares as cocoa costs rise.
Read Mondelēz’s chocolate sales and volume alongside pricing and margin performance. Steady sales and volume with resilient margins would suggest consumers are accepting prices and that pricing is helping absorb cocoa costs. Weakening volume or margins would show that higher prices are not protecting both demand and profitability, a similar trade-off for Hershey’s chocolate business.
Utz Brands, Inc. earningsUTZ
Utz Brands’ report will show how its U.S. branded salty snacks are selling, a read on the competition Hershey’s Dot’s and SkinnyPop face.
Look at Utz Brands’ branded salty-snack sales alongside any reported volume and retail-channel detail. Stronger branded sales and volume would point to a more competitive rival for the snack purchases and shelf space Hershey shares with Utz. If those measures weaken, the report offers less evidence that Utz is crowding Dot’s and SkinnyPop.
Retail Sales MoM (Oct)
Retail sales track how much consumers buy at stores, which can affect orders from Hershey’s wholesale distributors and retail-chain customers and the volume of its confectionery and snacks sold.
Read stronger retail sales as support for customer orders and Hershey’s product volumes; weaker sales may mean less demand for its confectionery and snacks and fewer customer orders.
