Hershey vs Pilgrim's Pride
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The short version
- Pilgrim's Pride is the larger business, with $18.5B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $11.7B for Hershey, about 1.6 times as much.
- Hershey grew revenue faster (4.4%, against 3.5%).
- Hershey kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (12.3% operating margin, against 8.7%).
- Hershey turned more of its sales into free cash flow (15.6% FCF margin, against 3.5%).
- Pilgrim's Pride earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (20.1%, against 11.5%).
| Latest fiscal year | HSY · FY25 | PPC · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | — | $6.7B |
| Revenue | $11.7B | $18.5B |
| Free cash flow | $1.8B | $653M |
| Net income | $883M | $1.1B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 4.4% | 3.5% |
| 5-year growth | 7.5% | 8.9% |
| Share count change | — | 0.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 33.6% | 12.8% |
| Operating margin | 12.3% | 8.7% |
| Net margin | 7.6% | 5.9% |
| FCF margin | 15.6% | 3.5% |
| Return on capital | 11.5% | 20.1% |
| Return on equity | 18.9% | 27.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $4.5B | $2.5B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.3x | 1.2x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $1.1B | $2.0B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 12.2x |
| Piotroski F-score | — | 4 |
FY16
HSY $7.4B
PPC $9.9B
FY17
HSY $7.5B
PPC $10.8B
FY18
HSY $7.8B
PPC $10.9B
FY19
HSY $8.0B
PPC $11.4B
FY20
HSY $8.1B
PPC $12.1B
FY21
HSY $9.0B
PPC $14.8B
FY22
HSY $10.4B
PPC $17.5B
FY23
HSY $11.2B
PPC $17.4B
FY24
HSY $11.2B
PPC $17.9B
FY25
HSY $11.7B
PPC $18.5B
HSY
PPC
FY16
HSY 16.9%
PPC 8.0%
FY17
HSY 17.5%
PPC 10.0%
FY18
HSY 20.8%
PPC 4.5%
FY19
HSY 20.0%
PPC 6.1%
FY20
HSY 21.9%
PPC 2.0%
FY21
HSY 22.8%
PPC 1.4%
FY22
HSY 21.7%
PPC 6.7%
FY23
HSY 22.9%
PPC 3.0%
FY24
HSY 25.9%
PPC 8.4%
FY25
HSY 12.3%
PPC 8.7%
HSY
PPC
FY16
HSY $744M
PPC $454M
FY17
HSY $992M
PPC $461M
FY18
HSY $1.3B
PPC $143M
FY19
HSY $1.4B
PPC $318M
FY20
HSY $1.3B
PPC $369M
FY21
HSY $1.6B
PPC −$55.2M
FY22
HSY $1.8B
PPC $183M
FY23
HSY $1.6B
PPC $120M
FY24
HSY $1.9B
PPC $1.5B
FY25
HSY $1.8B
PPC $653M
HSY
PPC
FY16
HSY 24.8%
PPC 16.2%
FY17
HSY 25.6%
PPC 21.8%
FY18
HSY 30.5%
PPC 9.2%
FY19
HSY 24.2%
PPC 11.8%
FY20
HSY 26.7%
PPC 3.2%
FY21
HSY 25.5%
PPC 2.2%
FY22
HSY 25.7%
PPC 15.5%
FY23
HSY 27.2%
PPC 7.9%
FY24
HSY 29.6%
PPC 20.3%
FY25
HSY 11.5%
PPC 20.1%
HSY
PPC
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.