General Mills Beats the Odds

Despite declining revenue, the Cereal King has finally crushed costs enough to show signs of life

BREAKING NEWS

General Mills surged this morning as the cereal maker finally pulled off an earnings beat. Is food inflation really over? 

WHAT HAPPENED

General Mills put up declining revenue numbers—only making $5.1 billion in revenue in Q4 of 2023. This still beat market expectations—but investors are far more interested in how General Mills managed to generate a massive $1.17 EPS from that revenue. 

COST KING

While General Mills is still fighting for life and heavily investing in advertising to stay relevant in this market—the company has crushed costs elsewhere. General Mills is finally seeing some relief in production expenses, which makes it easier for the brand to keep improving margins. On top of this, General Mills reaffirmed their predictions for 2024 revenue and earnings, which is another massive bull signal to the market. Maybe demand can keep up after all. 

WHY IT MATTERS

Food companies like General Mills have been brutalized by rising production costs and declining consumer budgets. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to make an operation as sprawling as General Mills more efficient and more able to absorb higher costs. With strong guidance for 2024, investors are way more confident about the broader food sector now. General Mills stock gained nearly 3% in early trading thanks to the beat.