Hershey Co vs BIO-TECHNE Corp — how do they compare? Hershey Co trades at $183 (market cap $36.72B), while BIO-TECHNE Corp trades at $72.13 (market cap $11.24B). The key difference: Hershey Co is far larger — about 3.3× BIO-TECHNE Corp's market cap, and Hershey Co pays the higher dividend (3.18%). Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| HSY | TECH | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $36.72B | $11.24B |
Sector | Consumer Staples | Health |
52-Week High | $236.28 | $72.29 |
52-Week Low | $162.31 | $43.31 |
Enterprise Value | $41.85B | $11.32B |
Dividend Yield | 3.18% | 0.44% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
HSY trades at $182.35, down 0.37% on the day, with a bullish technical outlook supported by moving averages and a consensus price target of $196.78. Recent Q2 2026 earnings beat expectations with EPS of $1.90 versus $1.43, driven by margin recovery and pricing power. Revenue growth is steady, with 2025 revenue at $11.69B and net income margin at 12.24%, though profit margins have fluctuated year-over-year.
The stock offers upside potential from earnings momentum and dividend stability, with risks including competitive pressures and input cost volatility. Analyst sentiment is mixed, with 68.57% hold ratings, reflecting cautious optimism amid margin improvements and macroeconomic headwinds.
Bio-Techne (TECH) trades at $72.29, up 0.54% today, with a bullish technical signal from moving averages and a consensus analyst price target of $71.67. Recent earnings showed mixed results, with a Q4 2025 beat but a Q1 2026 miss. The company maintains strong gross margins at 64.96% but faces declining net income margins, down to 6.01% in 2025. Positive cash flow trends and a pending acquisition by Merck highlight ongoing corporate developments.
Outlook is balanced with growth potential from product innovation and acquisition synergies, but risks include earnings volatility, high valuation multiples, and shareholder litigation over the merger terms. Institutional sentiment is split evenly between buy and hold ratings, reflecting cautious optimism amid execution challenges.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Hershey is a leading confectionery manufacturer in the U.S. (around a $25 billion market), controlling around 46% of the domestic chocolate space (per IRI). Beyond its namesake label, the firm's mix has expanded over the last 85 years and now consists of 100 brands, including Reese's, Kit Kat, Kisses, and Ice Breakers. Hershey's products are sold in about 80 countries, albeit with just a high-single-digit percentage of sales coming from markets outside the U.S., including Brazil, India, and Mexico. The firm has sought inorganic opportunities to extend its reach beyond its core confection business, adding Amplify Snack Brands and its Skinny Pop ready-to-eat popcorn to its mix and Pirate Brands (including the Pirate's Booty, Smart Puffs, and Original Tings brands) over the past few years.
Read more on HSY →Based in Minnesota, Bio-Techne is a life sciences manufacturer supplying consumables and instruments for the pharma, biotech, academic, and diagnostic markets. The company reports in two segments, protein sciences (75% of revenue), and diagnostics and genomics (25%). The protein-focused segment makes equipment and associated consumables for protein characterization and analysis and sells antibodies for research and clinical purposes. In diagnostics, Bio-Techne provides controls and calibrators for diagnostic manufacturers and has a portfolio of diagnostic oncology assays. The United States accounts for about 55% of revenue, and the firm also has operations in EMEA (20% of sales), the U.K. (5%), and APAC (15%), with the rest of the world accounting for the remaining 5%.
Read more on TECH →