In a world where the The Hershey Company (HSY) is less a corporation and more a guild of confectioners, recent events have left even the most seasoned investors with a bad taste in their mouths. A shortage of cocoa-caused by West African harvests that seem to have been cursed by the Institute of Agricultural Sorcery-has forced the company to raise prices. The result? A stock price that’s slumped like a poorly tempered chocolate bar, languishing far below its 2023 highs.
Yet, as any true Discworld investor knows, chaos often breeds opportunity. Let us explore how one peculiar factor might yet turn this “crisis” into a “golden opportunity”-assuming, of course, the cocoa gods are in a charitable mood.
Why Investors Should Watch Hershey Stock (Or: The Art of Buying Low on a Chocolate Budget)
Hershey’s shares have risen 35% since February’s low, which, in the grand scheme of things, is like climbing a mountain made of fudge only to realize you’re still in the foothills. At present, the stock trades at a 32% discount to its 2023 peak, a price so low it could be mistaken for a clearance bin at the back of a discount candy store.
The P/E ratio of 25, while respectable, is merely the stock’s five-year average. But let us not forget: this valuation comes at a time when cocoa inventories are thinner than the plot of a Discworld novel. Hershey’s first-half 2025 net income of $287 million-a 71% drop from 2024-reads like a tragic opera, albeit one performed by accountants.
Yet here lies the rub: if cocoa supplies return to normalcy, Hershey could reclaim its 2024 profit levels of $2.2 billion. Such a recovery would slash the P/E ratio like a well-timed chocolate bar through a financial noose, potentially sending the stock into a frenzy of upward motion. Investors, it seems, may be sitting on a time-release sweet that’s just waiting for the right wrapper to be peeled back.
And then there’s the dividend. At 2.9%, it’s a yield that would make the University of Ankh-Morpork’s Department of Financial Mysticism sit up and take notice. For 16 consecutive years, Hershey has raised its payout, a ritual as sacred as the annual migration of the Discworld’s stock analysts. This consistency, in a world where most corporations flinch at the thought of long-term commitments, is a rare and valuable thing.
The real reason to watch HSY, then, is not merely its price but the potential it represents. A stock that’s low but rising, a dividend that’s steady as a troll in a trench, and a cocoa supply chain that might, just might, return to sanity. It’s a recipe that would make even the most jaded investor reconsider their life choices.1
- Institute of Agricultural Sorcery: A fictional organization blamed for all crop failures since 1348.
- University of Ankh-Morpork’s Department of Financial Mysticism: Specializes in the study of why people pay money for things they don’t need.
Investing in chocolate is a gamble, but then again, so is crossing a street in the Discworld. 🍫
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2025-08-08 13:45