General Mills rev, earnings seen falling as consumer demand eyed

Shares of General Mills GIS.N gained 0.5% to $35.60 in early afternoon trading on Tuesday ahead of quarterly results due before the bell on Wednesday, with investors focused on consumer demand trends and higher prices.

The maker of Cheerios cereal and other packaged foods is seen posting nearly a 4% year-over-year drop in fiscal first-quarter revenue to $4.3 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.72 versus $0.86 a year ago, according to LSEG data.

Earlier this month, GIS sued top U.S. sugar producers, alleging a price-fixing conspiracy that inflated its ingredient costs.

In its last report, the company cited resilient demand for pantry staples but a 4% decline in its key North America Retail segment.

With the move, the stock is down about 23% year to date, well underperforming a roughly 7% gain in the S&P 500 Consumer Staples sector .SPLRCS and a roughly 13% rise in the S&P 500 .SPX.

The stock recently traded at 11 times forward earnings, versus its five-year average of 15 times, according to LSEG.

Of 21 analysts covering GIS, 3 rate the stock "strong buy" or "buy", 14 rate it "hold", and 4 rate it "sell" or "strong sell"; the median price target is $38.