rth America, the Hershey Foods Corporation is currently the U.S. market leader in chocolate confectionery. Because of their enormous size, overpowering product line, and dominance in the food industry, there is very little competition to Hershey Foods, however, there are a select number of companies that do compete with Hershey Foods, on a small scale basis. Some of those companies include Kellogg’s, Mars, Nestle, and ConAgra Incorporated. As far as the confectionary industry goes, the Hershey Food Corporation is well in control, and their number one ranking will not be threatened in the near future. Earnings AnalysisTaking a look at the sales and earnings for the Hershey Food Corporation was most impressive. The Consolidated net sales for the fourth quarter, ending December 31, 2000 were $1,194,902,000 compared with $1,105,838,000 for the fourth quarter of 1999. This was an $89,064,000 gain from the previous year. The net income for the fourth quarter of 2000 was $115,962,000, or $.84 per share, compared with $98,007,000, or $.70 per share, for the comparable period in 1999, an EPS increase of 20.0 percent. Needless to say the people at the Hershey Food Corp. are extremely pleased with the solid finish, for both sales and earnings, achieved in the fourth quarter of 2000.ValuationOne of Hershey Food Corporations greatest assets is their ability to compete in the seasonal market as well. Seasonal confectionery items, including such products as Valentine hearts, chocolate Easter bunnies, Halloween Trick-or-Treat candy and Christmas novelties, had a great year in 2000. In fact, looking at the total confectionery industry, seasonal sales grew 8 percent at retail last year, more than twice the rate of the confectionery category as a whole, and accounted for 34 percent of total industry sales. Hershey, whose seasonal growth outpaced the industry's in 2000, pioneered the seasonally wrapped candy arena with the introduction of r...
