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General Mills Inc

GIS · Consumer staples (grain mill products) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-05-31

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General Mills Inc reported revenue of $18.4 billion in fiscal 2026, after growing 1.9% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 16.0% in 2017 to 4.8%, and it earned -0.1% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $29.2 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 42.6% went to dividends and 29.3% to buybacks; the share count fell 10.1%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 2.30 is in the grey zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.

Revenue, fiscal 2026 18.4B +1.9% a year over 9 years
Operating margin 4.8% gross margin 33.6%
Return on invested capital -0.1% 18.4% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay 1.5B 8.4% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA 9.0× net debt 13.0B
Piotroski F-score 5/9 tests of improvement passed

Is it growing?

Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.

RevenueOperating income
Compound growth a year
3 yrs5 yrs9 yrs
Revenue-2.9%+0.3%+1.9%
Operating income-36.3%-22.4%-10.9%
Free cash flow per share-4.5%-5.3%+0.5%
Dividend per share+4.5%+4.0%+2.9%
Shares-3.7%-2.8%-1.2%

Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.

Does it earn more than its capital costs?

Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.

GrossOperatingNetFree cash flow

Return on invested capital

Return on invested capital Cost of capital today · 6.4%

Economic profit

Economic profit

(return on capital − cost of capital) × capital invested: the profit left after paying for the money used. Today's cost of capital is applied to every year, since a past one cannot be rebuilt honestly.

Return on equity
-1.2%
Return on assets
-0.3%
Asset turnover
0.61×
Research & development
1.4% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
18.4% of revenue

Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?

Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.

Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay

Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2026

29.2B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.

  • Reinvested in the business 21% 6.0B
  • Acquisitions 28% 8.0B
  • Dividends 43% 12.4B
  • Share buybacks 29% 8.5B
  • More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -20% -5.9B

Over the same years it paid 919.2M in stock. The share count fell 10.1%. 7.6B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.

Per share

Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share

Shares outstanding

Diluted shares

How strong is the balance sheet?

Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.

Net debt
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
9.0×
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
0.68 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
-21 days collects in 33d, stock 57d, pays in 111d

Three classic screens of the accounts

Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.

Piotroski F-score

Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.

5of 9 tests passed
  • ProfitableReturn on assets above zero failed
  • Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zero passed
  • Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year before failed
  • Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals) passed
  • Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fell failed
  • More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year before passed
  • No new sharesShare count did not grow passed
  • Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before failed
  • Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year before passed

Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.

Altman Z''-score

Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?

2.30grey zone
  • Working capital ÷ assets -0.07 × 6.56-0.47
  • Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.68 × 3.26+2.23
  • Operating income ÷ assets 0.03 × 6.72+0.20
  • Equity ÷ liabilities 0.33 × 1.05+0.34

Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.

Beneish M-score

Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?

-2.92below the -1.78 line
  • Receivables vs sales 0.97+0.89
  • Gross margin slipping 1.03+0.54
  • Soft assets 1.00+0.40
  • Sales growth 0.95+0.84
  • Slower depreciation 0.93+0.11
  • Overheads vs sales 1.04-0.18
  • Profit not in cash -0.08-0.35
  • Leverage rising 1.03-0.34

Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.

Where the statements disagree

Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.

Net debt is 9.0 times EBITDA.

Benign

A stable sector with predictable cash flows and comfortable maturities.

Worrying

Little room if earnings fall; the maturity schedule is what to check.

What is it worth, under which assumptions?

A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.

Revenue
M $

revenue of fiscal 2026

%

revenue grew +0.3% a year over the last 5 years; it fades to the terminal rate by the last year

yrs

ten years for growth to fade to the terminal rate

Cash from each sale
%

free cash flow to the firm after stock-based pay ÷ revenue, last 3 fiscal years together

%

the margin in year ten; by default the business keeps today's

The long run
%

growth forever after year ten, below the risk-free rate: no company outgrows the economy forever

The discount rate
%

10-year US Treasury par yield (U.S. Treasury), 2026-09-25

not measured on this public page, which uses only public filings: 1.0 assumes it moves like the market. Sign in to measure it from prices

%

the extra return demanded for holding shares; it cannot be measured, and 4–6% is the common range

%

no interest line: the risk-free rate + 1.5 points

%

effective rate in the last fiscal year, 102.2%, kept within 0–35%

The price
$

Type the price you see at your broker. It is used only for the reverse questions: what that price implies.

Back to the defaults

SEC from the filings Treasury the 10-year yield measured from prices assumption cannot be measured yours you changed it

Value per share, with these assumptions $42.02 discounted at 6.4% a year · 68% of it from after year 10
$17.7680% of 4,968 simulations$88.05
Cautious $11.94 -3.5% growth · 6.8% margin · 7.4% discount · 2.0% forever
Your assumptions $42.02 0.5% growth · 8.0% margin · 6.4% discount · 2.5% forever
Generous $119.59 4.5% growth · 9.2% margin · 5.4% discount · 3.0% forever

Type a share price on the left to ask the reverse questions: what growth, what margin or what discount rate that price implies.

What the value implies, in the usual multiples

At this model's value
Price ÷ earnings—
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA24.7×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue1.9×
Free cash flow yield6.8%

From cash flows to a value per share

10 years of cash flow, today11.3B
Everything after, today24.3B
The whole business35.6B
Minus net debt-13.0B
What belongs to shareholders22.6B

Divided among 537.7M shares: <strong>$42.02</strong> each.

The projection next to its history

Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.

ReportedProjected
Year by year
2027202820292030203120322033203420352036
Revenue18.5B18.7B18.8B19.0B19.3B19.6B20.0B20.4B20.9B21.4B
Growth0.5%0.7%0.9%1.2%1.4%1.6%1.8%2.1%2.3%2.5%
Cash margin8.0%8.0%8.0%8.0%8.0%8.0%8.0%8.0%8.0%8.0%
Free cash flow1.5B1.5B1.5B1.5B1.6B1.6B1.6B1.6B1.7B1.7B
Worth today1.4B1.3B1.3B1.2B1.1B1.1B1.0B997.6M959.0M923.9M

If the least-known inputs move

Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.

The discount rate and growth forever

discount ↓ · forever →1.5%2.0%2.5%3.0%3.5%
5.4% 44 53 65 81 106
5.9% 37 43 52 63 79
6.4% 30 36 42 50 62
6.9% 25 29 35 41 49
7.4% 21 25 29 34 40

Year-one growth and the final margin

margin ↓ · growth →-3.5%-1.5%0.5%2.5%4.5%
6.4% 22 26 31 36 41
7.2% 26 31 36 42 48
8.0% 31 36 42 48 55
8.8% 36 41 48 54 62
9.6% 40 46 53 60 68

All the inputs moving at once

4,968 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.

Half of the simulations land between <b>$27.79</b> and <b>$61.71</b>; one in ten below $17.76, one in ten above $88.05.

Does the long run make sense?

  • 27.0×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 27.0 times that year's EBITDA.
  • Free growthIn year 10 free cash flow is at or above after-tax operating profit, yet the model grows 2.5% forever. Growth needs reinvestment; this assumes it comes for free, which flatters the terminal value.
  • 68%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
The discount rate, taken apart
  1. What shareholders demand (CAPM): 5.17% risk-free + 1.00 beta × 5.0% premium = <strong>10.17%</strong>.
  2. What lenders charge, after the tax saving on interest: 6.67% × (1 − 35.0%) = <strong>4.34%</strong>.
  3. Weighted by how much of each the company uses (book value (no price given)): <strong>6.40%</strong>, the rate every future cash flow is discounted at.

What it has filed lately

The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.

What its own directors and officers did

Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 6 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.

Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market—none in the period
Under pre-arranged plans—of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
Other lines53 awards · 0 option exercises · 2 tax withholdings
DateWhoWhatSharesPriceValueHolds after
30 Aug 2026 Henry MariaDirector Received as an award 842 $40.08 $33,747 53,144
30 Aug 2026 Uribe Jorge A.Director Received as an award 748 $40.08 $29,980 41,432
30 Aug 2026 Uribe Jorge A.Director Shares withheld for taxes 160 $40.08 $6,413 41,272
30 Aug 2026 Morikis John GDirector Received as an award 654 $40.08 $26,212 20,503
1 Aug 2026 Bruce Kofi AChief Financial Officer Shares withheld for taxes 971 $35.75 $34,713 256,345

A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.

Which large funds report holding it

From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.

FundSharesValueShare of the fundSince the quarter before
Norges Bank (Norway's sovereign fund) 30 Jun 2026 9.0M $313.3M 0.0% New
Bridgewater Associates 30 Jun 2026 93,154 $3.2M 0.0% Added to
Dodge & Cox 30 Jun 2026 11,200 $389,760 0.0% Unchanged

All the funds and what they reported ›

Companies like this one

Same SEC industry (grain mill products) first, then the rest of consumer staples.

Every figure, year by year

10 fiscal years · 30 measures
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Size
Revenue15.6B15.7B16.9B17.6B18.1B19.0B20.1B19.9B19.5B18.4B
Revenue growth—+0.8%+7.1%+4.5%+2.8%+4.8%+5.8%-1.2%-1.9%-5.4%
Operating income2.5B2.4B2.5B3.0B3.1B3.5B3.4B3.4B3.3B885.8M
Net income1.7B2.1B1.8B2.2B2.3B2.7B2.6B2.5B2.3B-87.6M
Margins
Gross margin35.6%34.5%34.1%34.8%35.6%33.7%32.6%34.9%34.6%33.6%
Operating margin16.0%15.4%14.9%16.8%17.3%18.3%17.1%17.3%17.0%4.8%
Net margin10.6%13.5%10.4%12.4%12.9%14.3%12.9%12.6%11.8%-0.5%
Free cash flow margin11.1%14.1%13.5%18.2%13.5%14.5%10.4%12.7%11.8%8.8%
R&D ÷ revenue1.4%1.4%1.3%1.3%1.3%1.3%1.3%1.3%1.3%1.4%
SG&A ÷ revenue18.5%18.1%17.4%17.9%17.0%16.6%17.4%16.4%17.7%18.4%
Cash
Free cash flow1.7B2.2B2.3B3.2B2.5B2.7B2.1B2.5B2.3B1.6B
Stock-based pay95.7M77.0M84.9M94.9M89.9M98.7M111.7M95.3M91.7M79.4M
Free cash flow after stock pay1.6B2.1B2.2B3.1B2.4B2.6B2.0B2.4B2.2B1.5B
Free cash flow to the firm1.7B2.6B2.3B3.1B2.5B3.1B2.5B2.6B2.5B-141.9M
Free cash flow ÷ net income1.0×1.0×1.3×1.5×1.0×1.0×0.8×1.0×1.0×-18.6×
Capex ÷ revenue4.4%4.0%3.2%2.6%2.9%3.0%3.4%3.9%3.2%2.9%
Returns
Return on invested capital31.9%30.6%24.3%28.9%24.9%25.0%26.4%29.3%11.3%-0.1%
Return on equity38.3%34.7%24.8%27.1%24.7%25.7%24.8%26.6%24.9%-1.2%
Return on assets7.6%7.0%5.8%7.1%7.3%8.7%8.2%7.9%6.9%-0.3%
Asset turnover0.7×0.5×0.6×0.6×0.6×0.6×0.6×0.6×0.6×0.6×
Economic profit1.4B1.9B1.5B1.9B1.8B2.1B2.1B2.2B1.1B-1.4B
Per share
Earnings per share$2.77$3.64$2.90$3.56$3.78$4.42$4.31$4.31$4.12$-0.16
Free cash flow per share$2.89$3.79$3.75$5.24$3.96$4.48$3.47$4.36$4.11$3.02
Dividend per share$1.90$1.95$1.95$1.95$2.01$2.03$2.14$2.35$2.40$2.45
Payout ratio68.5%53.5%67.4%54.8%53.3%46.0%49.7%54.6%58.3%—
Book value per share$7.24$10.49$11.65$13.14$15.30$17.21$17.38$16.22$16.50$13.70
Diluted shares598.0M585.7M605.4M613.3M619.1M612.6M601.2M579.5M557.5M537.7M
Balance sheet
Net debt468.0M1.2B1.0B-1.4B-1.1B242.0M-553.8M-406.2M13.8B13.0B
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.2×0.4×0.3×-0.4×-0.3×0.1×-0.1×-0.1×3.6×9.0×
Interest coverage8.4×6.5×4.8×6.3×7.5×9.2×9.0×7.2×6.3×—
Current ratio0.8×0.6×0.6×0.7×0.7×0.6×0.7×0.7×0.7×0.7×
Cash conversion cycle (days)10-0-6-24-24-29-24-28-26-21
Scores
Piotroski F-score—568667655
Altman Z''2.631.661.892.222.362.622.832.852.722.30
Beneish M—-2.34-2.63-2.78-2.59-2.50-2.47-2.58-3.11-2.92

Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.