GENERAL MILLS INC. $56 (New York symbol GIS, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 596.1 million; Market cap: $33.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.generalmills.com) is one of the world’s largest food makers. Its top brands include Big G (cereal), Green Giant (canned and frozen vegetables), Pillsbury (baking dough), Old El Paso (tacos), Progresso (soups and salads) and Yoplait (yogourt).
In its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended February 22, 2015, General Mills earned $343.2 million, down 16.4% from $410.6 million a year earlier. Earnings per share declined 12.5%, to $0.56 from $0.64, on fewer shares outstanding.
Without unusual items, such as gains and losses on hedging contracts General Mills uses to lock in certain ingredient prices, earnings per share gained 12.9%, to $0.70 from $0.62.
Sales fell 0.6%, to $4.35 billion from $4.38 billion. Excluding the negative impact of exchange rates, sales rose 3%. The gain is mainly due to Annie’s, a maker of organic and natural foods General Mills bought for $821.2 million in October 2014.
General Mills recently raised its dividend by 7.3%. The new annual rate of $1.76 a share yields 3.1%. The stock trades at 19.9 times the $2.82 a share the company will probably earn in fiscal 2015.
Demand for General Mills’ snacks and cereals is suffering as consumers shift to healthier foods. As a result, the company is closing plants and laying off workers. It expects these moves to cut $350 million from its annual costs by fiscal 2017.
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