Confectionery company Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY) had a mixed bag for investors with its fourth quarter results.
Earnings per share of US$1.17 were up from US$1.08 a year earlier. The market had been expecting earnings to be flat year-on-year.
While earnings may have been sweeter than expected, the sales were one chunk short of a full bar at US$1.97bn, up 3.2% year-on-year but less than the US$1.99bn analysts had been expecting.
For the current financial year, Hershey is guiding towards earnings per share of between US$4.72 and US$4.82.
Despite this being above the median forecast of US$4.64, shares in Hershey eased 1.4% to US$104.08 in early deals.
Revenue is tipped to rise by two or three per cent from 2016’s US$7.44bn.
The market had been forecasting sales of US$7/63bn in 2017.