The Hershey Company — Earnings Quality Grade F
HSY · Consumer Defensive
Major red flags
Screening Summary
Financial Trends
Revenue & Net Income ($B)
Margins (%)
18-Point Screening
Revenue Quality
DSO 23 days, change -3 days YoY
AR growth -8.9% vs revenue growth 4.4%
Revenue 4.4%, CFFO -10.0%. Cash follows revenue
Expense Quality
Inventory 14.0% vs COGS 31.7%. Normal
CapEx growth -12.8% vs revenue 4.4%. Normal
SG&A/Gross Profit = 62.7%. Normal
Gross margin swung -13.8pp (47.3% → 33.5%)
Cash Flow Quality
CFFO/NI = 2.58. Profits backed by cash
FCF $1.7B, FCF/NI = 1.98
Accruals ratio = -10.1%. Low accruals
Cash $0.9B covers only 16% of debt $5.7B
Balance Sheet Health
Goodwill+Intangibles $5.8B = 126% of equity. Over 50%
Debt/EBITDA = 3.0x. Healthy
Other assets grew 34.5% vs revenue 4.4%
Write-offs normal
Acquisition Risk
FCF after acquisitions positive
Goodwill+Intangibles change 18% YoY. Normal
Manipulation Score
M-Score = -2.79 (< -2.22). Unlikely manipulator
Beneish M-Score
Altman Z-Score
Generated from public financial data using forensic accounting frameworks. Not investment advice. Data: Yahoo Finance · 2026-04-10