General Mills Inc.’s stock climbed 1.6% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the cereal, frozen meals and snacks company beat fiscal first-quarter profit expectations, offsetting a decline in sales. For the quarter ended Aug. 30, earnings rose to $426.6 million, or 69 cents a share, from $345.2 million, or 55 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted per-share earnings came to 79 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 69 cents. Sales declined 1% to $4.21 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $4.25 billion, as an 11% decline in reported international sales offset a 4% increase in U.S. retail segment sales. Excluding the effect of currency movements, sales would have increased 4%. The company expects full fiscal-year adjusted EPS to grow at a mid-single-digit percentage rate above the previous year’s $2.86, while the FactSet consensus of $2.96 implies 3.5% growth. The stock has climbed 6.5% year to date, while the S&P 500 has lost 4.5%.
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