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General Mills (GIS) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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General Mills (GIS - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $64.99, moving +0.42% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.23%. At the same time, the Dow lost 1.31%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.29%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of Cheerios cereal, Yoplait yogurt and other packaged foods had gained 7.35% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 2.51% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.2% in that time.

GIS will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.87, up 10.13% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.18 billion, up 4.52% from the year-ago period.

GIS's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.54 per share and revenue of $17.21 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -1.94% and -2.35%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for GIS. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.4% higher. GIS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, GIS is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 18.29. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18, so we one might conclude that GIS is trading at a premium comparatively.

We can also see that GIS currently has a PEG ratio of 2.44. 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 3.89 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Food - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 105, which puts it in the top 42% 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.

To follow GIS in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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