It's OK to have candy on your mind this weekend. We've already doled out our tricks and treats around here, but with Halloween upon us it's only natural to have sweet thoughts on the mind. If you're like most kids -- or kids who never actually got around to growing up -- you will probably clean your Sunday night stash of all things chocolate first.
Somewhere between the snap of a KitKat or the crunch of a Snickers bar, it may even dawn on you that something as decadently addictive as chocolate may be a good business in which to invest. Well, unfortunately, your options are limited.
Hershey (NYSE:HSY), Nestle (Pink Sheets: NSRGY), and Mars control roughly 80% of the chocolate market. Nestle is a huge European food conglomerate toiling away in many other areas, and M&M maven Mars is privately held. There's also Cadbury Schweppes (NYSE:CSG), though you have to go through a lot of root beer and ginger ale before you hit that Cadbury bar.
But Hershey isn't the only way to live the life of Charlie Bucket and inherit the chocolate factory. Tootsie Roll (NYSE:TR) is another public play to consider.
The Hershey family includes Reese's, Mounds, and even Twizzlers (you know, for when you're trying to kick the chocolate habit). Tootsie Roll also goes beyond its namesake chewable treats, putting out Junior Mints, Sugar Daddy, Andes mints, and Charms Blow Pops.
Hershey posted sales of $4.2 billion last year; Tootsie Roll lagged with sales of just $392 million. To be fair, the market-cap discrepancy is also quite wide as Hershey is valued at $12.4 billion, while Tootsie Roll rings up at just $1.6 million. Both companies trade at roughly 23 times forward earnings, and while that may seem high given their rather sluggish growth rates, it's a premium many are willing to pay for steady consistency.
So if you do find yourself with sticky chocolate fingers this weekend, just remember -- you can put your money where your mouth is.
What is the best chocolate candy? If you savor the stuff is there any chocolate that you will refuse? All this and more -- in the Give Me all the Chocolate!! discussion board. Only on Fool.com.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz thinks that the key to landing free candy as an adult on Halloween is a juvenile attitude. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story.
