HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) _ Hershey Co. (HSY) on Thursday reported second-quarter net income of $268.9 million.

On a per-share basis, the Hershey, Pennsylvania-based company said it had net income of $1.29. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $1.31 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.12 per share.

The chocolate bar and candy maker posted revenue of $1.71 billion in the period, which fell short of Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.74 billion.

Hershey shares have decreased nearly 6% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen slightly more than 1%. The stock has dropped nearly 6% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HSY at https://www.zacks.com/ap/HSY

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News