Hershey Co HSY.N beat profit and sales estimates and reinstated its full-year financial forecasts on Friday, after early promotions and strong use of data to predict Halloween trends paid off in the third quarter, sending its shares up 3%.
Anticipating a slump in trick-or-treating this year due to COVID-19 fears, Hershey launched in-store displays at U.S. retailers as early as August and tweaked much of its merchandise towards everyday consumption.
At the same time, it was tailoring digital ads to households using search data provided by Google GOOGL.O, targeting those who were more or less likely to go out based on what they searched for.
The result was an 80% rise in e-commerce sales and net Halloween sales that were “slightly” higher than 2019 and also boosted its seasonal market share gains by 4 percentage points.
Anticipating a slump in trick-or-treating this year due to COVID-19 fears, Hershey launched in-store displays at U.S. retailers as early as August and tweaked much of its merchandise towards everyday consumption.
At the same time, it was tailoring digital ads to households using search data provided by Google GOOGL.O, targeting those who were more or less likely to go out based on what they searched for.
The result was an 80% rise in e-commerce sales and net Halloween sales that were “slightly” higher than 2019 and also boosted its seasonal market share gains by 4 percentage points.
Overall, net sales rose 4% to $2.22 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 27, with baking items including peanut butter, syrup, chips and cocoa also improving.
Excluding items, the company earned $1.86 per share, allowing it to reinstate the full-year outlook it pulled in April.
It forecast full-year net sales to rise about 1%, anticipating organic sales growth in the fourth quarter would be similar to the third. Adjusted earnings per share are expected to rise between 7% and 8% to between $6.18 and $6.24 per share.
