HSYHERSHEY CO

Sugar & Confectionery Products

Revenue: $11.7B; 4.4% YoY
Operating margin: 12.3%; 52% YoY
EBITDA: $1.9B; 42% YoY
Market cap: $33.6B
Employees: 5,570; $2M revenue each
Net debt / EBITDA: 2.1×; $4.1B net debt
AI in 10-K: 1.3; mentions per 10K words

Takeover score 1 of 13

Fixable underperformance 0 of 7

TSR below peersNo
—
3+ of last 5 years
High CEO pay despite TSRNo
—
Median CEO pay ≥ $15M while TSR trails
Earnings not backed by cashNo
258% of net income
Cash flow under 80% of net income
Dilutive SBCNo
1% of revenue
Over 10% of revenue
Payouts exceed cash flowNo
48% of cash flow
Buybacks + dividends over cash flow
Goodwill-heavyNo
21% of assets
Over 40% of assets
Shareholder dissentNo
97% lowest support
Any vote under 80% support

Buyer economics 0 of 4

Low revenue per employeeNo
$2M · 85th pct
Bottom quartile of its SIC industry
Quiet on AINo
1.3 per 10K words · 41st pct
Bottom quartile of AI mentions in 10-Ks
Net cashNo
2.1× EBITDA net debt
More cash than debt, positive EBITDA
Buyout-sizedNo
$33.6B market cap
Market cap $500M–$5B

Catalysts 1 of 2

Active 13DNo
0 filings
Active-intent 13D in 18 months
Net insider sellingYes
−$292M net
Net sales over $10M in 12 months

Financials

Metric	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025	YoY	Trend
Revenue	$9.0B	$10.4B	$11.2B	$11.2B	$11.7B	4.4%
Operating income	$2.0B	$2.3B	$2.6B	$2.9B	$1.4B	50%
Net income	$1.5B	$1.6B	$1.9B	$2.2B	$883M	60%
Operating cash flow	$2.1B	$2.3B	$2.3B	$2.5B	$2.3B	10%
Capex	$496M	$519M	$771M	$606M	$455M	25%
Stock-based comp	$67M	$66M	$81M	$44M	$65M	47%
Buybacks	$458M	$389M	$265M	$494M	$0	100%
Dividends	$686M	$775M	$889M	$1.1B	$1.1B	0.0%

Deal filings

None.

13D filers

None on file.

Insider trading

Open-market buys, 12 mo: $445K · 3
Open-market sells, 12 mo: $293M · 785
Net: −$292M

Pay vs performance

No pay-versus-performance disclosure yet.