Hershey beats 4Q profit forecasts

Hershey Co. (HSY) on Friday reported fourth-quarter net income of $116.9 million.

On a per-share basis, the Hershey, Pennsylvania-based company said it had profit of 55 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were $1.17 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.08 per share.

The chocolate bar and candy maker posted revenue of $1.97 billion in the period, which did not meet Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.99 billion.

Hershey expects full-year earnings in the range of $4.72 to $4.81 per share.

Hershey shares have risen 2 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed roughly 2 percent. The stock has increased 18 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HSY at https://www.zacks.com/ap/HSY

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Keywords: Hershey, Earnings Report