Financial Survey: General Mills (GIS) vs. The Competition

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) is one of 328 publicly-traded companies in the “Food Products” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare General Mills to related companies based on the strength of its valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.7% of General Mills shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of General Mills shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 18.8% of shares of all “Food Products” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares General Mills and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
General Mills	$18.42 billion	-$87.60 million	-21.68
General Mills Competitors	$15.44 billion	$700.97 million	-2,414.12

General Mills has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its rivals. General Mills is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares General Mills and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
General Mills	-4.89%	21.86%	5.85%
General Mills Competitors	-13.58%	-142.63%	-2.62%

Dividends

General Mills pays an annual dividend of $2.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. General Mills pays out -147.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Food Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 12.2% and pay out 29.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. General Mills has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for General Mills and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
General Mills	6	10	4	0	1.90
General Mills Competitors	2446	8292	8369	403	2.34

General Mills presently has a consensus target price of $36.59, indicating a potential upside of 1.66%. As a group, “Food Products” companies have a potential upside of 16.83%. Given General Mills’ rivals stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe General Mills has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc. manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables. The company also manufactures and markets pet food products, including dog and cat food; and operates ice cream parlors. It markets its products under the Annie’s, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Blue Buffalo, Bugles, Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Dunkaroos, Edgard & Cooper, Fiber One, Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, Gardetto’s, Gold Medal, Golden Grahams, Häagen-Dazs, Kitano, Kix, Lärabar, Latina, Lucky Charms, Muir Glen, Nature Valley, Nudges, Oatmeal Crisp, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Progresso, Tastefuls, Total, Totino’s , Trix, True Chews, True Solutions, Wanchai Ferry, Wheaties, Wilderness, and Yoki brands. The company sells its products to grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains, e-commerce retailers, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, convenience stores, and pet specialty stores. General Mills, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.