Dairy Costs Milk Hershey

Hershey (HSY Quote - Cramer on HSY - Stock Picks) guided lower for the second quarter and year, citing rising dairy costs.

The Hershey, Pa., chocolate maker said it expects to make 34 cents or 35 cents a share for the quarter, well below the 43-cent Thomson Financial analyst consensus estimate. Hershey guided to earnings from operations for the year of $2.46 to $2.51 a share, again below Wall Street's $2.54 estimate.

"While we've experienced some areas of improvement in the U.S. business, we're not as far along as we need to be," said CEO Richard Lenny. "In addition, within the past few weeks, the impact of higher dairy costs has significantly increased our cost profile for the remainder of the year."

The news comes as Hershey cuts jobs and moves factories overseas in a bid to cut costs. The company repeatedly missed earnings targets last year as sales growth slowed and costs rose.