The Hershey Company (HSY) has been navigating a challenging environment in recent years. Elevated cocoa prices have pressured margins, volume growth has slowed, and the stock now trades near $188/share. Despite these headwinds, Hershey’s strong brands and steady confectionery demand continue to provide a solid foundation for long term performance.
Recently, Hershey posted results that showed improving trends, with pricing helping offset higher ingredient costs and salty snacks continuing to gain traction. The company also announced new capacity investments to address cocoa inflation and stabilize supply, moves that analysts believe could support gradual margin recovery heading into 2026 and 2027. These developments suggest Hershey is still capable of defending profitability even as it works through a challenging cost backdrop.
This article explores where Wall Street analysts think Hershey could trade by 2027. We have pulled together consensus targets and TIKR’s valuation model to outline the stock’s potential path. These figures reflect current analyst expectations and are not TIKR’s own predictions.
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Analyst Price Targets Suggest the Stock Is Mostly Priced In
Hershey trades at about $188/share today. The average analyst price target is $189/share, which suggests roughly 1% upside. With estimates clustered tightly, Wall Street views the stock as close to fairly valued.
Key targets:
- High estimate: $220/share
- Low estimate: $131/share
- Median target: $189/share
- Ratings: 3 Buys, 2 Outperforms, 17 Holds, 1 Underperform, 2 Sells
Since the implied return is near zero, analysts see Hershey as a stable but fully valued name.
For Investors, Most of the near term expectations are already reflected in the share price. A meaningful move higher would require stronger volume trends or faster margin improvement than analysts currently expect.
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Hershey Growth Outlook and Valuation
Analysts expect a moderate outlook based on the latest model inputs:
- Revenue is projected to grow 3.3% through 2027
- Operating margins are expected to reach about 18.1%
- Shares trade around 24.1x forward earnings
- Based on analysts average estimates, TIKR’s Guided Valuation Model using a 24.1x forward P E suggests about $200/share by 2027
- That implies roughly 6.4% total return, or about 3% annualized
These assumptions point to steady compounding supported by strong brands, pricing power, and stable category demand, but not a fast growth profile. The outlook reflects a company still navigating cost inflation while maintaining predictable earnings.
For investors, Hershey looks like a dependable defensive compounder rather than a high growth opportunity. Upside is modest unless cocoa costs ease more quickly or the company delivers stronger volume improvement than analysts currently expect.
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What’s Driving the Optimism?
Hershey continues to benefit from strong brand loyalty across chocolate and snacks. This gives the company durable pricing power and supports consistent demand even when consumers become more cost conscious. Analysts also highlight that confectionery demand tends to hold steady across economic cycles, helping Hershey manage periods of rising input costs.
Management has been prioritizing supply chain stability and investing in capacity to reduce the impact of cocoa price swings. Growth in salty snacks also provides an additional pathway for expansion.
For investors, these strengths suggest Hershey has the ability to stabilize margins and gradually rebuild earnings as cost pressures ease.
Bear Case: Cost Inflation and Volume Pressure
Despite these positives, Hershey faces meaningful challenges tied to elevated commodity costs. Cocoa prices remain historically high, which continues to weigh on margins. If costs stay elevated longer than expected, it may be difficult for the company to push through additional pricing without affecting consumer demand.
Volume softness is another risk. Some consumers are shifting to lower priced alternatives, and competition in snacks remains intense.
For investors, the concern is that prolonged cost inflation and weaker volumes could limit earnings growth, keeping the stock range bound even if the core business stays fundamentally healthy.
Outlook for 2027: What Could Hershey Be Worth?
Based on analysts average estimates, TIKR’s Guided Valuation Model suggests Hershey could trade near $200/share by 2027. This represents about 6.4% total return and roughly 3% annualized gains from today’s price.
The projection already assumes a modest recovery in margins and steady demand trends. To unlock stronger upside, Hershey would need faster volume improvement, a meaningful decline in cocoa prices, or sustained growth in its salty snacks portfolio.
For investors, Hershey appears to offer dependable long term stability with steady but limited return potential unless cost conditions improve more quickly than expected.
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