General Mills Q4 Adj. Profit Beats Market, Sales Miss; Warns On FY26 Earnings; Stock Down

(RTTNews) - General Mills, Inc. on Wednesday reported lower fourth-quarter earnings, hurt mainly by weak net sales. However, adjusted earnings beat market estimates, but top line missed their view. Further, the branded food company issued fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings outlook, expecting year-over-year decline. General Mills added that its top priority in the new year is to restore volume-driven organic net sales growth.

In the pre-market activity on the NYSE, the shares were losing around 3.3 percent to trade at $51.60.

General Mills Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Harmening said, "Our number one goal in fiscal 2026 is to restore volume-driven organic sales growth. To do that, we'll invest further in consumer value, product news, innovation, and brand building, guided by our remarkable experience framework and highlighted by Blue Buffalo's national launch into fresh pet food coming later in calendar 2025. … With a clear framework centered on remarkability and positive early returns from our Q4 investments, I'm confident our fiscal 2026 plans will put us on a path back to driving long-term growth in line with our shareholder return model."

For fiscal 2026, the company projects adjusted earnings per share and adjusted operating profit to be down 10 to 15 percent in constant currency from prior year's base of $4.21 per share and $3.4 billion, respectively.

Organic net sales are expected to range between down 1 percent and up 1 percent.

For the new year, the company expects category growth to be below its long-term projections, reflecting less benefit from price/mix amid a continued challenging consumer backdrop.

As announced earlier, the company expects the net impact of the U.S. and Canada Yogurt divestitures and the North American Whitebridge Pet Brands acquisition to reduce adjusted operating profit growth by approximately 5 points in fiscal 2026.

General Mills further said it expects to close the sale of its U.S. Yogurt business by the end of June 2025, subject to the satisfaction of remaining customary closing conditions.

In addition, the Board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, representing a 2 percent increase from the previous quarterly rate, payable August 1, to shareholders of record July 10.

In its fourth quarter, General Mills' net earnings attributable fell 47 percent to $294.0 million from prior year's $557.5 million. Earnings per share declined 46 percent to $0.53 from $0.98 a year ago.

Adjusted earnings were $0.74 per share for the period, compared to $1.01 last year.

The Wall Street analysts on average expected the company to report earnings of $0.71 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Operating profit of $504 million was down 35 percent from last year, and adjusted operating profit of $622 million was down 22 percent in constant currency.

The company's net sales for the period fell 3.3 percent to $4.56 billion from $4.71 billion last year. The Street was looking for sales of $4.60 billion.

Organic net sales were also down 3 percent in line with expectations, while organic pound volume was in line with last year.

For more earnings news, earnings calendar, and earnings for stocks, visit rttnews.com.