Why Apple, Hershey, Mondelez, and Two More Are Trending

Hershey To Remain Independent

Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY) shares are more than 11% in the red today after Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ) announced that it is no longer pursuing a combination with Hershey. Mondelez’s management will instead focus on its plan to deliver sustainable top-line growth and significant margin expansion in the coming years. Mondelez previously bid $107 per share for Hershey, only to see its offer be unanimously rejected by Hershey’s board of directors. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies reported a stake of over 1.5 million shares in Hershey Co (NYSE:HSY) as of the end of June, while Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square owns almost 23 million shares of Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), according to its latest 13F filing.

Analyst Upgrade at McDonald’s 

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) is in the spotlight today after analysts at Baird upgraded shares of the restaurant stock to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ and assigned a 12-month price target of $128 per share. Given the stock’s slide from its 52 week high of $131.96, the Baird analysts see the risk-reward of going long McDonald’s as favorable. Although McDonald’s same-store sales aren’t growing as fast as they did several quarters ago, the stock remains a good long-term holding given the company’s wide moat, reasonable forward P/E of 18.8 and dividend yield of 3.08%. Hedge funds were a little less optimistic on McDonald’s in the second quarter. Of the around 750 funds we track, 63 investors owned shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) at the end of June, down by 20 from the previous quarter.

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