Chocolate/Confectionery

Hershey Co. HSY -0.45% raised its guidance for the year after reporting a 13% rise in third-quarter sales on higher-than-expected demand for its snacks and candy despite raising prices. The maker of Reese’s peanut-butter cups and Twizzlers candy on Friday said higher prices helped it offset higher supply-chain costs and advertising expenses, with the latter aimed at boosting consumer spending on its treats. Amid high…

Any stock that doubles in five years, outperforms tech giants over three years and beats more than 450 companies in the S&P 500 this year is clearly worth studying. And there is no better time to look at one of the biggest winners of a terrifying market than Halloween. One of the many curious aspects of Hershey is that people who intuitively understand its business aren’t adults. They’re children. To be specific, they’re children around Hershey, Pa., which is among the world’s greatest places for…

Soaring inflation has already strained home buyers, drivers at the gas pump and people buying plane tickets.Now it’s coming for shoppers in the Halloween candy aisle, too.Candy prices are up more than 13% from a year ago, according to the Labor Department, the largest-ever yearly jump for candy. Surging labor costs and skyrocketing flour and sugar prices have helped fuel the increase, candy makers say. Customers say they have been experiencing sticker shock in the candy aisle this month as they reckon with an unfamiliar…

McDonald’s Corp. MCD -1.23% is shaking up its board of directors with the departure of longtime member Sheila Penrose and the addition of executives from Marriott MAR -2.08% International Inc., Johnson & Johnson JNJ -0.07% and Salesforce Inc. CRM -4.01%…

Higher costs for commodities, freight and energy are starting to eat into profit at Nestle SA, even as the world’s largest packaged foods company pushes up prices for its Nescafé coffee and KitKat chocolate. Nestlé and other consumer-goods companies have for much of the past year been grappling with high inflation as the recovery from Covid-19 gains steam. This year, the war in Ukraine has sent energy prices soaring further. Despite raising prices sharply, Nestlé said…

A little more than one-third of S&P 500, or 175 companies, are scheduled to report earnings in the coming week, according to FactSet. The list includes 12 members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Google parent company Alphabet Inc. GOOG -5.81% and Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. META -7.59% also are expected to release earnings. Additional companies with quarterly updates on tap…

Kellogg Co. K 2.06% ’s plan to spin off its cereal and plant-based foods businesses is renewing focus on corporate breakups in the U.S. food industry. Campbell Soup Co. CPB 0.92% , General Mills Inc. GIS 1.59% and other food makers for years have built out their baskets of brands, acquiring newer, trend-aligned products and pushing into other supermarket segments,…

Poul Weihrauch is set to become CEO at Mars Inc., the family-owned maker of brands including Snickers, Wrigley and Kind. Photo: Mars, Incorporated…

Now playing at a theater near you: a suspense drama over whether there will be enough popcorn for the summer moviegoing season.The plot was palpable at CinemaCon, an annual convention for movie-theater operators this spring. The Las Vegas event floor had a festive vibe, coming after two years of pandemic-darkened screens. A-list vendors such as Mars Wrigley (M&M’s, Snickers, Twix) hawked sugary wares near makers of polyester theater-worker vests and seating experts modeling the latest in auditorium recliners.…

Oatly Group AB is lining up a successor to Toni Petersson, the chief executive who helped turn its oat milk into a global phenomenon and took the company public last year, according to people familiar with the matter.Last month, the Swedish company said it had hired as president Jean-Christophe Flatin, a food-industry veteran and former senior executive at candy giant Mars Inc. Mr. Flatin is seen as a likely eventual replacement for Mr. Petersson, the people said, adding that no change is imminent. Oatly GroupAB is…