Hershey (HSY) Competitors

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) and Mondelez International (NASDAQ:MDLZ) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, community ranking, profitability and dividends.

Is HSY or MDLZ more profitable?

Hershey has a net margin of 19.83% compared to Mondelez International's net margin of 12.68%. Hershey's return on equity of 44.77% beat Mondelez International's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hershey	19.83%	44.77%	15.14%
Mondelez International	12.68%	16.75%	6.38%

Is HSY or MDLZ a better dividend stock?

Hershey pays an annual dividend of $5.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Mondelez International pays an annual dividend of $1.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Hershey pays out 67.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mondelez International pays out 69.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Hershey has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Mondelez International has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Hershey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, HSY or MDLZ?

Mondelez International has higher revenue and earnings than Hershey. Hershey is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mondelez International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hershey	$10.75B	2.90	$2.22B	$8.11	18.99
Mondelez International	$36.46B	2.33	$4.61B	$2.69	24.35

Which has more volatility & risk, HSY or MDLZ?

Hershey has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mondelez International has a beta of 0.5, suggesting that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in HSY or MDLZ?

58.0% of Hershey shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.3% of Mondelez International shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Hershey shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Mondelez International shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HSY or MDLZ?

Mondelez International received 290 more outperform votes than Hershey when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.25% of users gave Mondelez International an outperform vote while only 50.54% of users gave Hershey an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hershey	Outperform Votes 605 50.54%	Underperform Votes 592 49.46%
Mondelez International	Outperform Votes 895 70.25%	Underperform Votes 379 29.75%

Do analysts rate HSY or MDLZ?

Hershey currently has a consensus target price of $161.40, indicating a potential upside of 4.83%. Mondelez International has a consensus target price of $70.55, indicating a potential upside of 7.73%. Given Mondelez International's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Mondelez International is more favorable than Hershey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hershey	5 Sell rating(s)	15 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.75
Mondelez International	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.55

Does the media favor HSY or MDLZ?

In the previous week, Mondelez International had 16 more articles in the media than Hershey. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for Mondelez International and 20 mentions for Hershey. Hershey's average media sentiment score of 1.24 beat Mondelez International's score of 1.21 indicating that Hershey is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hershey	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Mondelez International	25 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Mondelez International beats Hershey on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.