One way might be for Hershey Foods to buy back some of its own stock.

ECONOMIST: Bitter sweet | The

Whoever succeeds in buying Hershey Foods will find the company firing on all cylinders.

ECONOMIST: Bitter sweet | The

Among major companies, only Lockheed Martin (nyse: LMT - news - people ) and Hershey Foods (nyse: HSY - news - people ) faced lengthy stoppages last year.

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The ultimate loser may be Hershey Foods.

ECONOMIST: Victory for a company town

And Cadbury is particularly sensitive about its image at the moment, since it is considering whether to jump into bidding auctions for Hershey Foods and Adams, two of the choicest confectionery companies to come up for sale in years.

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Elsewhere on the earnings front, Aetna (AET), AOL (AOL), Hershey Foods ( HSY), Allstate (ALL), BMC Software (BMC), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Electronic Arts ( ERTS), Green Mountain Coffee ( GMCR), Las Vegas Sands ( LVS), and Qualcomm ( QCOM) are scheduled to release their quarterly reports.

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Other top holdings include Monsanto, Hershey and Whole Foods.

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The downsizing, part of a restructuring at the 116-year-old chocolate maker, illustrates competitive pressures felt by Hershey as its rivals Kraft Foods ( KFT) and closely held Mars have gotten bigger through takeovers.

FORBES: Is Hershey A Sweet Buy?

While a competitor with public food companies like Kraft Foods Group, Kellogg, PepsiCo and Hershey, the 82-year-old company has struggled to maintain peace with its union.

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