Is Hershey going to be the biggest value play of the year?
This has to be something Buffett would be licking his chops over - and not just because the chocolate is good - Hershey looks like Coke did back in the 80's. Getting hit by competition and internal problems but still has this ridiculous amount of brand equity and consumer reach.
My only question is, when do we buy?
Answers
420 points
WayneMulligan answered one year ago …
Hi Creezy,
I thought this was a great question -- so much so that I decided to answer it in a longer article I just posted on the TickerHound blog. The basic answer is, "Yeah, Hershey is a buy (in my opinion), just not right now. It could go lower still but there are a few potential outcomes that could show shareholders some dramatic upside. I'd wait for it to build a base and show some sort of uptrend first". To read the whole article visit the TickerHound blog at: http://blog.tickerhound.com or go to the following address:
http://blog.tickerhound.com/2008/02/24/is-hershey-the-value-play-of-the-year/
Good luck and I hope you enjoy it!
3966 points
EthanR answered one year ago …
Good lord, Wayne, don't wait too long! HSY may well have bottomed on January 25th at 34.00 on heavy volume. Since then, it has all turned around. The MACD has turned up nicely and is approaching the zero line. The RSI has also turned up and is approaching 50. The stock looks like it is about to take out the 50 day moving average. Upside volume has been good. From what I can see technically, it all looks pretty solid!
As for the disadvantages you listed, while they may not be an international play now, that doesn't mean they won't be in the future. Price fixing investigations have a way of petering out with no more than a slap on the wrist. And have you seen America's children and teenagers lately? Fat, fat, fat! You think they got that way from eating apples?
I say thumbs up to HSY.
102 points
majewskiplumbingaolcom answered 9 months ago …
what was the stock value this time last year
Read more from majewskiplumbingaolcom flag as abuse great answer450 points
SallyG answered 9 months ago …
I find myself a bit of a contrarian here. Hershey's is a company with two missions: one is to be a profitable chocolate company, the other is inherent in its large holding by the Hershey Trust. This company was founded, as was Wrigley, by an individual who passed it to family members. (As was Anheuser-Busch, which I believe is part of why the discussion of selling to a European company was so controversial; it was more than the "Americana" aspect, it was a family/St. Louis tradition that was being threatened.)
Although Hershey is now a public company, its founder transferred his holdings to a charitable trust that has a responsibility to the school for orphans it oversees and to the local economy. The day it does anything to dilute that relationship is the day my interest in the Hershey brand dissolves. I am a Hershey shareholder, and am proud that it is not just a profit-only corporation. I was also a long-term shareholder of Wrigley, and although disappointed that they went private, excluding me from future participation, realized that it was a way for them to maintain family control over what their ancestor founded, and respected that. I firmly believe that the control issue is why Mars has never gone public. (The negative side of family control after a few generations was shown in the squabbling of the Campbell heirs that was detrimental to that firm some years ago.)
