General Mills posts higher quarterly profit
By Christopher Hinton
Published: Mar 23, 2011 7:19 a.m. ET
ChristopherHinton
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- General Mills Inc. GIS, -0.66% said Wednesday its fiscal third-quarter earnings rose to $392.1 million, or 59 cents a share, from $332.5 million, or 48 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Sales rose 2% to $3.65 billion. On an adjusted basis, General Mills said it earned 56 cents a share in the most recent period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research were looking for earnings of 56 cents a share, on average, with sales of $3.7 billion. For the full year, the Minneapolis-based food products company affirmed its earnings forecast of $2.46 to $2.48 a share. The Wall Street consensus is for a 2011 profit of $2.48 a share. Shares of General Mills closed Tuesday at $36.91, off by less than 1%.
General Mills Inc. U.S.: NYSE: GIS