Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products. The company sells its products under the registered trademarks. It distributes its products through candy and grocery brokers to wholesale distributors of candy and groceries, supermarkets, variety stores, dollar stores, chain grocers, drug chains, discount chains, cooperative grocery associations, warehouse and membership club stores, vending machine operators, the U.S. military, and fund-raising charitable organizations. Tootsie Roll Industries operates in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company was founded in 1896 and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. went public on the NYSE in 1927 (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=TR).
The Hershey Company and the Tootsie Roll Company both are companies in confection industry; they specialize in a wide variety of chocolate candy products. I compared both companies for the years 2002, 2003, and 2004 against each other and against the industry averages in order to make a decision about which company investors would choose to invest in. The comparisons I used to make this decision were ratios for liquidity, solvency, and profitability. As a
References: 3) Kimmel, P.D., Weygandt, J.J., & Kieso, D.E. (2007). Financial Accounting: Tools for business decision making Reuters. (2007). Hershey Ord Shs: Key Ratios. Retrieved October 8, 2007, from 5) The Hershey Company 6) The Hershey Company. 2003 Annual Report Management Discussion and Analysis: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/NYS/HSY/reports/HSY_MDA_2003.pdf 7) The Hershey Company