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General Mills (GIS) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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General Mills (GIS - Free Report) closed at $63.44 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.89% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.17% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.55%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.44%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of Cheerios cereal, Yoplait yogurt and other packaged foods had gained 1.6% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector gained 1.18%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.19%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from General Mills as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect General Mills to post earnings of $1.05 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 0.94%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.8 billion, up 1.72% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.80 per share and revenue of $18.25 billion, which would represent changes of +0.26% and +0.69%, respectively, from the prior year.

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

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.07% higher. General Mills is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note General Mills's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 16.55. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.1.

Investors should also note that GIS has a PEG ratio of 2.21 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Food - Miscellaneous stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.55 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 195, putting it in the bottom 24% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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