General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Dividends - they always pay it; they always raise it. Their household-name brands ensure a solid market share in the US, and their international market is on track for strong growth.

General Mills is building a solid international presence and has a strong management team. It has recently jumped into the health foods segment of the market to address current trends in food. The primary potential downside for the company is the cost of commodities used in its products, especially corn, but they are much better positioned than their competition (Kelloggs, ConAgra, etc.) to avoid short-term shortages... and their 17.9 price-to-earnings is much cheaper than industry competitors.

General Mills will never be the next hot company. But everyone has to eat. Chances are, somewhere in your cupboard is a bag of Gold Medal flour, Big G cereal or Betty Crocker cake mix. While many investors are fixated on the hare, it's the steady dividend-paying tortoises like General Mills that often win the race in the long term. I have steadily accumulated shares of General Mills over the years to give my portfolio diversification and defense. I think this is a great addition to a portfolio of a Fool who has a long-term horizon and is committed to reinvesting their dividends.

Very few management teams can make acquisitions at rational prices and then turn them into earnings. Even fewer can make them improve earnings. GIS and its CEO have performed this magic trick over and over. The dividend increase and 3.3% yield were enough to take me out of my comfort zone ( 10 P/E) for stand alone shares of this business- I already own them within some of my better mutual funds. If you think you need some fairly safe yields, think about this instead of wimpy bonds.

This stock has such a great looking 20 year chart even with recessions thrown in.

Safety is always nice, and a low beta stock that owns brands that people won't stop buying is always nice, plus dividends.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/976681-steven-cohen-s-10-favorite-dividend-stock-picks

price of food in exising & future mkt.

This company is a buy/hold forever dividend payer

Reese's Puffs, Reese's Puffs. This earnings report is going to suck.

long term winners in food ingustry enabling price increases volume growth ceenters on health and conveniencr unterruped Dividend for 113 yr

50

As commodities come down, GIS will be able to pocket the profits

My hope is to beat money market yields and have reasonable price stability. Buying on earnings dip & pre ex-div.

div play

Can you imagine a world without Cinnamon Toast Crunch? Neither can I.

Going for the dividend here.

I added GIS at $38.10. They pay a $1.22 annual dividend. I feel it is one more good one to help stablize a portfolio during rough times. It provides multi-decade inflation fighting element. It also only went down 33% during the Great recession. This will add some protection to my one value point CAPs portfolio.

TTM cash flow per share $1.97 fo a present cash flow yield of 5.2%.

I don't believe in one value point investing. But even under this rule, one can create a market beating portfolio, even if one uses a huge number of stocks, something, I also don't believe is the best course of action. So GIS is an important addition to my Caps portfolio. I believe it will help me guage the severity of each downturn and allow me to play off of those clues for my own portfolio.

I will be able to explain this better if this downturn takes the Dow back to 2011 lows. For investors that would be a good thing.

tom e

Slow growth consumer staples stock with a rich valuation = pass.