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Should Value Investors Buy General Mills (GIS) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One company to watch right now is General Mills (GIS - Free Report) . GIS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 15.65, which compares to its industry's average of 19.42. Over the past year, GIS's Forward P/E has been as high as 16.32 and as low as 13.49, with a median of 15.56.

Investors will also notice that GIS has a PEG ratio of 2.24. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. GIS's industry has an average PEG of 2.64 right now. Over the past 52 weeks, GIS's PEG has been as high as 2.33 and as low as 1.86, with a median of 2.21.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that General Mills is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, GIS sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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