General Mills (GIS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, General Mills (GIS) closed at $67.48, marking a +0.7% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.86% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.98%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.15%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of Cheerios cereal, Yoplait yogurt and other packaged foods had lost 7.57% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 8.52% and the S&P 500's loss of 12.37% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from General Mills as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.01, up 10.99% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.79 billion, up 5.81% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.83 per share and revenue of $18.89 billion, which would represent changes of +1.06% and +4.2%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for General Mills. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.03% lower. General Mills is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note General Mills's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 17.49. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 17.49, so we one might conclude that General Mills is trading at a no noticeable deviation comparatively.

Also, we should mention that GIS has a PEG ratio of 2.33. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Food - Miscellaneous stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.33 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Food - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 208, putting it in the bottom 18% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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