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 GIS has moved downward over the last 30 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 3.52%.

Currently, GIS has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), but that could definitely change following General Mills’ earnings report which was just released. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:

Earnings Beat: GIS surpassed expectations. Our consensus earnings estimate called for EPS of 71 cents per share, and the company reported adjusted EPS of 72 cents.

Revenues Miss: GIS reported net sales of $3.79 billion, lagging our consensus estimate of $3.82 billion.  

Key Stats to Note: Organically, sales were down 5%.

Share Price Impact: Shares declined 0.8% in pre-market trading at the time of writing.
 

General Mills, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

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