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 year for GIS has remained stable over the last 60 days. However, GIS has delivered positive earnings surprises in two of the past four quarters making for an average four quarter negative earnings surprise of 1.74%.

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: GIS met expectations. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EPS was 82 cents per share, in line with the company’s adjusted figure.

Revenues: GIS reported net sales of $4.2 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 billion.

Key Stats to Note: Organically, sales grew 1%, better than the decrease of 4% last quarter.

Share Price Impact: Shares climbed 1.1% in pre-market trading at the time of writing.

Check back for our full write up on this GIS earnings report later!

General Mills, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

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