General Mills Inc (GIS) stock analysis
General Mills Inc (GIS) clears 2 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 3 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 1 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $35.18 it trades 30.1% below this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of +30.1%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +9.4% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does General Mills do?
General Mills makes packaged foods sold in grocery stores worldwide: cereal, snacks, baking mixes, frozen foods and pet food.
Brands and businesses it owns
- Cheerios
- Betty Crocker
- Pillsbury
- Nature Valley
- Blue Buffalo
- Old El Paso
- Annie's
- Totino's
- Progresso
- Lucky Charms
What stands out about General Mills?
- The share price implies shrinking cash flow. At $35.18, GIS's free cash flow of $2.95 per share would have to shrink 0.8% a year at first, then recover to 2.5% growth by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8% growth, so the price asks for less growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 2 of the 8 value filters. It fails Market Cap > $25B ($18.4B) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-66.8%); the other 2 pass and 4 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- Weakest against peers: debt / equity. At 1.83 (peer median 0.81) it ranks 11th of 11 among food products stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Short interest is elevated. 7.7% of the float is sold short, 3.8 days to cover, above this site's 5% flag. See the figures.
- Dividend raises 1 of 6 flags. Its trailing yield is 7.13%. See the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
How has General Mills' share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is General Mills undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) +30.1%
- Wall St. analyst rating Hold · 2.75/5 28 analysts this month: 1 strong buy, 2 buy, 16 hold, 7 sell, 2 strong sell (Finnhub).
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · all 5 checks clean Beneish M-score −2.92 · accruals −7.1% of assets · 178% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 0.4% of revenue · share count −3.7% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to May 2026) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +9.4% net Latest fiscal year (2026): dividends 7.1% + buybacks 2.7% − stock comp 0.4%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 19%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $34.55 per $1 of new profit · Capital-hungry · but only 10% return on capital Operating profit $2.5B → $2.5B, capital needed $22B → $24B, 2017–2026 (3-year averages); return on capital now 10% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) n/a (no PEG reported)
- Compounder lenses (4) 2 of 4 · misses capital-light, price (n/a) Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit grew 1.0×, under 2×); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): cannot be measured (no PEG reported). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 1 flag
- Standing vs. sector peers 2 of 6 measures above the median Compared with the 10 other food products stocks this site tracks: 1 in the top third, 4 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 1/6 flags
How does General Mills compare with its peers?
2 of 6 measures sit above the median of the 10 other food products stocks tracked here, 1 in the top third and 4 in the bottom third.
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 7.3% 8.4% –5th of 11
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 4% −11% ✕10th of 11
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 2.2% −4.9% ✕9th of 11
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 0.7% −4.5% ✕10th of 11
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.81 1.83 ✕11th of 11
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 4.02% 7.13% ✓2nd of 11
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and GIS doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: GIS and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, is trading below what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth - his own "price is what you pay, value is what you get" test, not a fixed multiple ceiling, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: GIS isn't clearing the return-on-equity bar he'd want to see right now, carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, and doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✕
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✓
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2026
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and GIS falls short of his bar. In its favor: GIS is backing its growth up with real free cash flow. Where it comes up short: GIS fails his signature PEG test, he'd call this pricey for the growth on offer, is growing earnings outside the 10–25% range he considered the sustainable sweet spot, is leaning on more debt than he liked a growth story to carry, and is asking investors to pay a steep multiple for that growth.
- PEG < 1 n/a
- EPS growth 10%-25% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- P/E < 27 n/a
- Price/FCF < 30 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does General Mills pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $18.4B
- Trailing P/E < 25 n/a
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 n/a
- Price/Book < 8 2.48
- Price/Sales < 7 1.01
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% -66.8%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is General Mills' margin of safety?
+35% on 2026-10-07 → +30% on 2026-10-23 (5 weekly readings).
Where is General Mills in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in General Mills?
41,173,326 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with General Mills? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case +59%
- Short interest under 5% of float 7.7%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 4/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +10% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2017 1.91 → 1.83
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have General Mills shareholders gained per year?
Not enough clean earnings history to compute this for GIS yet - a loss year in the window breaks the growth math rather than faking a number through it.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from GIS's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do General Mills' 10-year financials show?
From GIS's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about General Mills
What kind of company is General Mills?
General Mills makes packaged foods sold in grocery stores worldwide: cereal, snacks, baking mixes, frozen foods and pet food. Brands and businesses it owns include Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Nature Valley, Blue Buffalo and Old El Paso. This site groups it with Food Products stocks.
Is General Mills trading above or below its DCF value?
At $35.18, GIS trades 30.1% below this site's neutral DCF value of $50.36 per share, a margin of safety of +30.1%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does General Mills pass?
GIS passes 2 of 8. It passes Price/Book < 8 (2.48) and Price/Sales < 7 (1.01). It misses Market Cap > $25B ($18.4B) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (-66.8%). Trailing P/E < 25, PEG Ratio < 1.5, vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
How much cash does General Mills return to shareholders?
GIS's net shareholder yield is +9.4%: the cash it returns through dividends and buybacks, minus stock-based compensation, as a share of its market value. Latest fiscal year (2026): dividends 7.1% + buybacks 2.7% − stock comp 0.4%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 19%. Its trailing dividend yield is 7.13%, paid out of 83% of its free cash flow; the dividend-sustainability check raises 1 of 6 flags (weak interest coverage). See Shareholder Yield Leaders and the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
Where is General Mills trading compared with its 52-week range?
At $35.18, GIS trades 10.0% above its 52-week low of $31.67 and 28.7% below its 52-week high of $49.34. The Near 52-Week Low list tracks stocks in that position.
How heavily is General Mills stock sold short?
As of September 30, 2026, 7.7% of GIS's float was sold short (41,173,326 shares, 3.8 days to cover), down 8.2% from the prior reporting period. FINRA publishes short interest twice a month, so it changes about every two weeks; this site flags anything above 5% of the float.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: General Mills's 10-K annual report for the year ended May 31, 2026, filed Jul 1, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this General Mills Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on General Mills Inc (GIS) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.