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The Hershey Company key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, The Hershey Company had return on equity of 18.9%, an operating margin of 12.3%, debt equal to 116.5% of equity and a current ratio of 1.19. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Fiscal year2009Dec 20092010Dec 20102011Dec 20112012Dec 20122013Dec 20132014Dec 20142015Dec 20152016Dec 20162017Dec 20172018Dec 20182019Dec 20192020Dec 20202021Dec 20212022Dec 20222023Dec 20232024Dec 20242025Dec 2025LTMSept 2026
Gross margin—————45.0%45.8%42.6%46.0%45.9%45.4%45.4%45.1%43.2%44.8%47.3%33.5%41.9%
Operating margin———25.7%18.7%18.8%14.0%16.9%17.5%20.8%20.0%21.9%22.8%21.7%22.9%25.9%12.3%20.8%
Net margin8.2%9.0%10.3%9.9%11.5%11.4%6.9%9.7%10.4%15.1%14.4%15.7%16.5%15.8%16.7%19.8%7.6%14.6%
Free-cash-flow margin17.7%12.7%4.3%12.6%12.1%6.4%12.2%10.0%13.2%16.3%18.1%15.4%17.7%17.4%13.9%17.2%15.6%17.3%
Return on equity60.5%62.8%71.5%69.8%62.1%55.4%41.8%80.7%92.1%101.8%73.3%64.4%59.2%54.3%50.3%50.4%18.9%37.7%
Return on assets11.9%12.8%14.5%14.4%16.2%15.4%9.4%13.2%14.1%17.8%14.5%14.8%15.1%15.4%16.3%17.9%6.6%13.0%
Asset turnover1.441.431.401.451.411.351.351.371.361.181.010.940.920.980.980.900.880.89
Current ratio1.521.541.741.441.771.160.830.950.960.931.051.570.900.800.970.961.191.24
Debt to equity214.0%202.5%220.2%183.9%122.3%149.7%242.5%379.2%319.1%318.7%245.3%206.0%182.4%145.2%117.4%108.2%116.5%105.1%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)———17.3x14.6x15.9x9.5x13.7x13.1x11.1x10.5x11.6x15.7x16.1x15.9x16.6x6.4x11.5x
Effective tax rate35.0%37.0%34.7%34.9%34.4%35.2%43.1%34.5%31.9%17.0%16.9%14.7%17.5%14.2%14.3%10.2%27.3%22.6%
R&D as % of revenue0.5%0.5%0.5%0.6%0.7%0.6%0.7%0.6%0.6%0.5%0.5%0.5%0.4%0.5%0.4%0.5%0.5%—
SG&A as % of revenue22.8%25.2%24.3%25.6%26.9%25.6%26.7%25.4%25.1%24.1%23.9%23.2%22.3%21.5%21.8%21.2%21.0%21.1%
Capital spending as % of revenue2.4%3.2%5.3%3.9%4.5%5.0%4.8%3.6%3.4%4.2%4.0%5.4%5.5%5.0%6.9%5.4%3.9%3.6%
Free cash flow ÷ net income215.5%141.6%42.0%126.5%105.8%55.9%175.4%103.3%126.7%108.0%125.7%98.4%107.4%109.9%83.4%86.7%206.4%118.3%
Dividends ÷ net income60.4%55.6%48.3%51.6%48.0%52.0%92.8%69.4%67.2%47.8%53.1%50.1%46.4%47.1%47.8%48.8%122.9%63.0%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow29.0%62.7%260.9%101.9%80.6%214.8%117.7%146.8%83.3%63.7%78.7%67.7%72.1%64.4%74.4%82.0%59.5%74.0%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

4 of 7 checks passed · September 27, 2026
What it owns · $13.9bn
Short-term assets $3.9bnLonger-term assets $10.0bn
What it owes, and who funded it · $13.9bn
Short-term liabilities $3.1bnLonger-term liabilities $5.9bnShareholders' equity $4.9bn
  • Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $3.9bn of assets due within a year against $3.1bn of liabilities due within a year.
  • Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $3.9bn short-term assets against $5.9bn of longer-dated liabilities.
  • More cash than debt $677m of cash against $4.7bn of debt.
  • Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 96% of equity.
  • Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 140% to 96% over five years.
  • A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $2.6bn of operating cash flow against $4.7bn of debt.
  • Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $2.5bn against $221m of interest.

From The Hershey Company's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

87 /100

Strong moat

How hard The Hershey's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

  • Returns on capital 20 / 20

    Cash operating profit has been a median 20.3% of total assets over 10 years.

  • Pricing power 15 / 20

    Gross margin has been a median 44.7%, moving by 2.3 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.

  • Durability 17 / 20

    Operating margin has been a median 21.3%; its worst year was 16.7%.

  • Cash conversion 18 / 20

    Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 16.6% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from The Hershey Company's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 30, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to The Hershey Company.