Hershey (HSY) Competitors

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

Is HSY or MDLZ more profitable?

Hershey has a net margin of 16.17% compared to Mondelez International's net margin of 10.58%. Hershey's return on equity of 43.24% beat Mondelez International's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hershey	16.17%	43.24%	14.40%
Mondelez International	10.58%	17.53%	6.70%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor HSY or MDLZ?

Mondelez International received 273 more outperform votes than Hershey when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.69% of users gave Mondelez International an outperform vote while only 52.02% of users gave Hershey an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hershey	Outperform Votes 605 52.02%	Underperform Votes 558 47.98%
Mondelez International	Outperform Votes 878 70.69%	Underperform Votes 364 29.31%

Is HSY or MDLZ a better dividend stock?

Hershey pays an annual dividend of $5.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Mondelez International pays an annual dividend of $1.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Hershey pays out 63.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mondelez International pays out 66.7% 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 and Mondelez International has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Hershey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate HSY or MDLZ?

Hershey currently has a consensus target price of $189.33, suggesting a potential upside of 8.81%. Mondelez International has a consensus target price of $80.31, suggesting a potential upside of 24.67%. Given Mondelez International's stronger consensus rating and higher probable 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)	14 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.74
Mondelez International	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media prefer HSY or MDLZ?

In the previous week, Mondelez International had 1 more articles in the media than Hershey. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Mondelez International and 24 mentions for Hershey. Mondelez International's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Hershey's score of 0.64 indicating that Mondelez International is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hershey	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Mondelez International	21 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, 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	$10.97B	3.21	$1.86B	$8.68	20.05
Mondelez International	$36.15B	2.38	$4.96B	$2.82	22.84

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

58.0% of Hershey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.3% of Mondelez International shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Hershey shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Mondelez International shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, HSY or MDLZ?

Hershey has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mondelez International has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Mondelez International beats Hershey on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.