General Mills, Inc. (GIS – Analyst Report) is easily a leading manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The company’s core brands like Big G cereals, Betty Crocker and Hamburger Helper dinner mixes, Pillsbury refrigerated dough products, Progresso soups and Yoplait yogurt enjoy leading positions in attractive food categories.
However, much like the rest of the food industry, GIS has been under pressure lately as its U.S. sales and profits have been below expectation due to changing consumer food preferences. To cater to the evolving consumer tastes, General Mills is investing in consumer-focused innovation and marketing and accelerating its natural and organic product portfolio to improve sales.
Investors should note that the consensus estimate for GIS has hardly witnessed any significant movement over the last 60 days. Moreover, GIS has delivered positive earnings surprises in three of the past four quarters making for an average four quarter earnings surprise of 6.15%.
Currently, GIS has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), but that could definitely change following General Mills’ earnings report which was just released. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:
Earnings: GIS beat on earnings. Our consensus earnings estimate called for EPS of $0.62/share, and the company reported EPS of $0.65. Investors should note that these figures take out stock option expenses.
Revenues: GIS reported revenues of $4.0 billion. This missed our consensus estimate of 4.05 billion.
Key Stats to Note: In constant currency terms, sales declined 4%, hurt mainly by the divesture of its Green Giant and Le Sueur brands of frozen and shelf stable vegetables to food manufacturer B&G Foods in November last year.
Share Price Impact: Shares were in-active in pre-market trading.
