Diversified food multinational General Mills (GIS:NYSE), which makes and markets breakfast cereals Cheerios and Lucky Charms, has a well-deserved reputation as a resilient total return stock. The company reinvests its reliable cash flows behind its brands whilst returning cash to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.

Shares in the meal, snack and baking mix supplier have rebounded strongly since the summer, when the company reported (26 June) a 6% decline in fourth-quarter sales to $4.7 billion amid retailer de-stocking and waning demand.

General Mills also forecast annual profit below expectations, so there’s pressure on the Minneapolis-based group to convince investors it has tasty long-run growth potential when it posts first-quarter earnings (18 September).

For the uninitiated, General Mills’ brand portfolio includes Nature Valley granola bars, Haagen-Dazs ice cream, Old El Paso sauces and the Blue Buffalo dog and cat food brand, which brings a long-run play on the humanisation of pet feeding and treating.

Cost-saving progress and volume growth trends will also be in focus when General Mills updates the market, and investors will want to hear a plan for returning the Blue Buffalo dog and cat food brand to growth.

At the recent Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference (3 September), General Mills reaffirmed its mellow full-year 2025 outlook for organic sales to range between flat to up 1% and operating profit to be between flat and 2% lower.

However, chief executive Jeff Harmening highlighted ‘a good start’ to the year with ‘sequentially improving retail sales trends across many of our key categories’. 

US UPDATES OVER THE NEXT 7 DAYS

QUARTERLY RESULTS

17 Sept: FedEx, Lennar

18 Sept: General Mills

19 Sept: Darden Restaurants, FactSet Research

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