Will General Mills (GIS) Stock Rise Today on Analyst Upgrade

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of General Mills   may trade higher in Monday's trading session, after the food producer had its rating raised to "neutral" from "sell" by analysts at Goldman Sachs this morning. The firm also increased its 12-month price target to $56 from $47, citing an improved fundamental outlook. Analysts at the firm added that they see General Mills as "further along than peers in shifting to meet the demands of the critical millennial generation." In January, Goldman Sachs raised its coverage view of food to "neutral" from "cautious", saying industry challenges were understood and risk of value creating corporate actions was rising. Minneapolis, MN-based General Mills is a manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates GENERAL MILLS INC as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate GENERAL MILLS INC (GIS) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its expanding profit margins, reasonable valuation levels, increase in stock price during the past year and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 9.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 0.6%. The declining revenue appears to have seeped down to the company's bottom line, decreasing earnings per share. 35.71% is the gross profit margin for GENERAL MILLS INC which we consider to be strong. Regardless of GIS's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, GIS's net profit margin of 7.88% compares favorably to the industry average. The company's current return on equity has slightly decreased from the same quarter one year prior. This implies a minor weakness in the organization. When compared to other companies in the Food Products industry and the overall market, GENERAL MILLS INC's return on equity exceeds that of the industry average and significantly exceeds that of the S&P 500. Compared to where it was 12 months ago, the stock is up, but it has so far lagged the appreciation in the S&P 500. The stock's price rise over the last year has driven it to a level which is somewhat expensive compared to the rest of its industry. We feel, however, that other strengths this company displays justify these higher price levels. You can view the full analysis from the report here: GIS Ratings Report Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 25 Stocks for 2015

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