Hershey Co. Rises On Earnings, AbbVie Inc. Declines On Sales Miss

Hershey (HSY) and AbbVie (ABBV) released their latest earnings reports before opening bell this morning. Hershey posted adjusted earnings of $1.29 per share on $2 billion, compared to the consensus estimates of $1.18 per share and $1.99 billion. In last year’s third quarter, the chocolate maker posted $1.99 billion in sales.

AbbVie posted adjusted earnings of $1.21 per share, just edging out the consensus of $1.20 per share. Revenue came in at $6.43 billion, compared to the consensus of $6.56 billion. In last year’s third quarter, AbbVie reported sales of $5.94 billion.

Hershey shares rise after earnings

Hershey’s reported earnings rose to $1.06 per share or $227.4 million from 70 cents per share or $154.8 million last year. Adjusted gross margin edged lower to 45.6% from 46% in the year-ago quarter. Unfavorable product mix and supply chain costs were blamed for the decline. North America net sales grew 1.8% year over year to $1.8 billion, while International and Other sales grew 5.3% to $238.9 million. Acquisitions had a benefit of 0.7 points on sales, while currency headwinds had a negative impact of 0.2 points.

Hershey expects full-year adjusted earnings to be between $4.28 and $4.32 per share, which is strong compared to the consensus of $4.26 per share. However, the company expects sales to grow 1% year over year, while the FactSet consensus implies growth of 3.7%. Reported earnings are expected to be between $3.82 and $3.90 for the full year. Acquisitions and divestures are expected to provide a net benefit of 0.5 points.

Shares of Hersey jumped by as much as 1.97% to $97.39 in premarket trades.

AbbVie raises guidance

AbbVie’s GAAP earnings rose to 97 cents per share from 74 cents per share last year. Humira revenue grew 11.3% to $4.06 billion, missing the consensus of $4.17 billion. Imbruvica revenue grew 64.5% to $501 million.

The company increased its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to a range of $4.80 to $4.82 per share from the previous outlook of $4.73 to $4.83 per share. AbbVie also raised its dividend for 2017 by 12% starting with the dividend payable in February.