The Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY), which is the largest U.S. candy maker, is getting a new Chief Executive, David West, who is moving over from the COO suite. Shareholders will be anxious to see if this suite move really translates into a sweet move for the stock, which is down for the year about 25% from $56.75, closing near its 52-week low today at $44.50.

I have been watching this stock for a few weeks now as I search out what will be valuable in the coming year -- and then going forward for a lifetime. As "my pal Warren" likes to say, the proper holding period for a stock is "forever." Chocolate is a candidate for sure, and Buffett certainly would have to support this notion since Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) owns a premier American Brand in See's Candies.

Chocolate may be as recession-proof as beer and lipstick, so this company is worth looking at as an investment opportunity. When I review the numbers I see both good and bad. To the good, it is paying a 2.56% dividend yield, which does sweeten the pot (OK, I'll stop that). To the bad, it is facing increased prices for sugar, now competing I suppose with the energy sector (ethanol), ironic since chocolate bars are promoted as energy food. Oil seems to have dipped in the past few days but I'm not sure the demand for sugar will.

I wonder how they will approach getting their commodity prices in check and what they will do to compete in the marketplace; more advertising, new products, new marketing approach? Free samples for everyone!

Looking closer at the numbers, I see Hershey has a very strong (trailing) return-on-equity of about 66%, but this may be due to the excess use of leverage -- that's bad. Hershey does have more debt than it should with good cash-flow. The P/E is about 24, which seems high but is fine when compared to the price-to-book of 20, which is way out of wack. This will require me to investigate still further. It is too hard to decide based on what I know now. So for today, I am not able to give Hershey a Yea or a Nay, I need to dig deeper ... stay tuned.

[photo koyochi]

To find potential opportunities and verify my track record read Chasing Value or Serious Money.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He is on the advisory board of Internet start-up CircleBuilder.com.