Hershey Posts Upbeat Q2 Earnings, But Sales Miss Views

reported better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. The Hershey, Pennsylvania-based company reported a quarterly net loss of $99.9 million or $0.47 per share, compared to net income of $168.2 million or $0.75 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding items, its adjusted net income climbed to $0.78 per share from $0.76 per share. Its net sales rose slightly to $1,578.8 million from $1,578.3 million. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.75 per share on revenue of $1.62 billion. The average estimate among 13 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.74 per share and revenue of $1.62 billion. Hershey's North America sales gained 1.8 percent year-over-year to $1,399.6 million in the second quarter, while sales for International and Other segment shrank 12.1 percent to $179.3 million. Its gross margin expanded 110 basis points year-over-year to 46.6 percent, while operating profit slipped 97.3 percent to $7.5 million. The company's board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.583 on common stock. John P. Bilbrey, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Hershey Company said, "Second quarter operating results were largely in line with our revised expectations, particularly in the North America business where we continue to build on our momentum…U.S. results were slightly ahead of our expectations with year-to-date combined candy, mint and gum (CMG) market share up 0.1 points. Results were adversely impacted by international performance, primarily in China." Hershey expects full-year 2015 adjusted earnings of $4.10 to $4.18 per share and net sales to rise around 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent. Hershey shares fell 0.50 percent to close at $92.20 yesterday.