General Mills' Stock Rises After Profit Beats Expectations

Shares of General Mills rose 1.9% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the cereal and branded foods company reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter profit and sales. For the quarter ended Feb. 22, net earnings declined to $343.2 million, or 57 cents a share, from $410.6 million, or 66 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to 70 cents from 62 cents, beating the FactSet consensus of 67 cents. Sales declined 1% to $4.35 billion, but topped the FactSet consensus of $4.34 billion, even as unfavorable currency moves lowered sales by 4 percentage points. The company reiterated its full-year fiscal 2015 targets of sales and adjusted EPS growth in the low single-digit percentage range. The stock has slipped 2.7% in the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 0.6%.