UPDATE: Hershey Posts 22% Rise In Q1 Profit, Lifts Forecast

Hershey Co

reported a 22% rise in its first-quarter profit and lifted its forecast for the year. Hershey now projects full-year earnings of $3.61 to $3.65 per share, versus $3.56 to $3.63 per share. Hershey's quarterly profit surged to $241.9 million, or $1.06 per share, from $198.7 million, or $0.87 per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time items, it earned $1.09 per share. Its sales gained 5.5% to $1.8 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.04 per share on sales of $1.8 billion. Hershey's gross margin widened to 46.5% from 42.9%. Hershey shares rose 1.32% to $90.50 in pre-market trading.