Hershey (HSY) Competitors

Hershey (NYSE:HSY) and Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of HSY or KHC?

58.0% of Hershey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of Kraft Heinz shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Hershey shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Kraft Heinz shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is HSY or KHC more profitable?

Hershey has a net margin of 15.32% compared to Kraft Heinz's net margin of 10.44%. Hershey's return on equity of 38.70% beat Kraft Heinz's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hershey	15.32%	38.70%	13.12%
Kraft Heinz	10.44%	7.37%	4.06%

Does the media prefer HSY or KHC?

In the previous week, Hershey had 13 more articles in the media than Kraft Heinz. MarketBeat recorded 58 mentions for Hershey and 45 mentions for Kraft Heinz. Kraft Heinz's average media sentiment score of 0.71 beat Hershey's score of 0.64 indicating that Kraft Heinz is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hershey	23 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	18 Neutral mention(s)	7 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kraft Heinz	20 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, HSY or KHC?

Kraft Heinz has higher revenue and earnings than Hershey. Kraft Heinz is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hershey, 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	$11.20B	2.98	$2.22B	$8.11	20.32
Kraft Heinz	$25.85B	1.24	$2.74B	$2.19	12.39

Is HSY or KHC a better dividend stock?

Hershey pays an annual dividend of $5.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Kraft Heinz pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Hershey pays out 67.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kraft Heinz pays out 73.1% 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 increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Which has more risk & volatility, HSY or KHC?

Hershey has a beta of 0.3, indicating that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kraft Heinz has a beta of 0.25, indicating that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer HSY or KHC?

Hershey presently has a consensus target price of $158.84, indicating a potential downside of 3.63%. Kraft Heinz has a consensus target price of $30.29, indicating a potential upside of 11.62%. Given Kraft Heinz's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Kraft Heinz 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
Kraft Heinz	3 Sell rating(s)	15 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.83

Summary

Hershey beats Kraft Heinz on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.