Is General Mills, Inc. (GIS) a Good Stock to Buy?

General Mills can also be compared to packaged food companies The J.M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) and Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB). Trailing earnings multiples here are in the 20-21 range, so a slight premium to what we saw at General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) and Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ). Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) saw its revenue increase in its most recent quarter compared to the same period in the previous year, though net income actually dropped by 7% and so we’d be a bit concerned about investing without more positive numbers from the company. The J.M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) grew on both top and bottom lines, with sales rising at about the same rate as they did at General Mills; with the stock carrying a higher earnings multiple that at that company, it might be at least worth checking out the cheaper packaged food company first. We’d also note that all of these stocks- while their betas are considerably lower than 1- are more closely correlated with movements in market indices than General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) is.

Disclosure: I own no shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.