General Mills Inc. shares jumped 2.4% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the consumer foods company beat fiscal second-quarter revenue expectations and raised its outlook. Net income for the quarter to Nov. 26 fell to $430.5 million, or 74 cents a share, from $481.8 million, or 80 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to 82 cents, matching the FactSet consensus. Revenue rose 2.1% to $4.20 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $4.09 billion, as better-than-expected convenience stores and foodservice segment sales helped offset a miss in North American retail segment sales. U.S. cereal sales increased 7% and U.S. snacks sales rose 5%. The company raised its fiscal 2018 organic net sales outlook to a range of between flat to down 1% from the previous guidance of a decline of 1% to 2%. The stock has shed 6.7% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has rallied 20%.
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