General Mills, Inc. (GIS - Free Report) is 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 hurt by 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 the current quarter for GIS has remained stable over the last 60 days. However, GIS has delivered positive earnings surprises in three of the past four quarters making for an average four quarter positive earnings surprise of 0.86%.

General Mills, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

General Mills, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | General Mills, Inc. Quote

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 missed expectations. Our consensus earnings estimate called for EPS of 77 cents per share, and the company reported adjusted EPS of 71 cents.

Revenues: GIS reported net sales of $3.77 billion, missing our consensus estimate of $3.79 billion.

Key Stats to Note: Organically, sales were down 4%.

Share Price Impact: Shares declined 4.3% in pre-market trading at the time of writing.