Buy, Sell, or Hold? Jim Cramer Evaluates 14 Stocks and the Fragile Food Market

12. General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer evaluated, along with the fragile food market. Cramer highlighted why the company had to cut its earnings forecast, as he commented:

This is not the only example. When General Mills spoke at CAGNY, a key industry conference, they told a slightly better story. When Mills reports next week, I bet pet food will shine. But there’s heavy discounting in cereal, and management doesn’t seem to recognize that the stock’s turned into a very suboptimal situation. Their review, they say, is “resulting in significantly improved competitiveness.” They do have eight leading brands, each generates a billion dollars in sales. But in the end, General Mills, a justifiably proud company, had to cut its earnings forecast, and it was the talk of the whole conference. Why? “Weak consumer sentiment, heightened uncertainty, and significant volatility have weighed on category growth and impacted consumer purchase patterns, resulting in a slower pace and higher cost of volume recovery than initially expected.” That doesn’t sound all that positive.

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) provides branded foods, including cereals, snacks, meals, baking products, frozen items, ice cream, and pet food.