The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

4. Sugar Shock

Hershey (HSY Quote) treated investors to another bittersweet performance this week.

The Hershey, Pa., chocolatier missed third-quarter earnings targets and said it expects a soft year-end sales performance. The company cited high dairy costs and tough competition.

"Throughout 2007, our top priority has been to restore momentum within the U.S.," said CEO Richard H. Lenny. "Against a backdrop of severe commodity cost pressures and strong competitive activity, we're maintaining this focus."

That's another way of saying that despite all its efforts, Hershey has failed to improve its flagging sales growth. Though Lenny's favored "retail takeaway" metric showed a 6% rise in the U.S. chocolate market, total sales actually dropped 1% from a year ago as distributors cleared inventory.

It was this sort of underperformance that led Lenny to step down earlier this month, amid grumbling from the charitable trust that owns a big chunk of the company's stock. But this being Hershey, his successor is already showing talent in the overpromise, underdeliver department.

"In 2008, we'll build on recent marketplace momentum in core chocolate as we broaden our participation in the premium segment," said President David J. West, who will take over for Lenny Jan. 1. "Today we are pleased to announce the introduction of Hershey's Bliss. This product delivers a smooth, creamy and rich-tasting chocolate experience, satisfying consumers' desire for indulgence."

If only Hershey's top brass could satisfy investors' desire for competence.

Dumb-o-Meter score: 82. Hershey's named West its new CEO after conducting a "succession process" that lasted exactly one day.