Chocolate company Hershey (NYSE:HSY) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow before market hours. Here's what to look for.

Hershey missed analysts' revenue expectations by 2.4% last quarter, reporting revenues of $2.66 billion, flat year on year. It was a weak quarter for the company, with a miss of analysts' revenue estimates. Guidance for 2024 EPS also calls for no growth, implying $9.60 per share and below Wall Street analysts' estimates.

Is Hershey a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting Hershey's revenue to grow 4.2% year on year to $3.11 billion, slowing from the 12.1% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.77 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Hershey has missed Wall Street's revenue estimates twice over the last two years.

Looking at Hershey's peers in the shelf-stable food segment, some have already reported their Q1 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Mondelez delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 3%, beating analysts' expectations by 1.5%, and Conagra reported a revenue decline of 1.7%, in line with consensus estimates. Mondelez traded down 1.8% following the results while Conagra was up 6.9%.

Read our full analysis of Mondelez's results here and Conagra's results here.

Inflation fears have put pressure on growth stocks, and while some of the shelf-stable food stocks have fared somewhat better, they have not been spared, with share prices down 2.2% on average over the last month. Hershey's stock price was unchanged during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $206.1 (compared to the current share price of $194).

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