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.
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