Shares of General Mills Inc (NYSE:GIS) are down 1.8% this morning to trade at $48.73, even after the food manufacturer topped estimates with fiscal first-quarter earnings of $0.86 per. The Minnesota-based brand reaffirmed its full-year outlook, though softer U.S. demand continues to limit growth. Still, the earnings beat helped cushion what could've been a steeper decline.
If today's losses hold, GIS will log its fourth consecutive post-earnings drop, and its seventh in the past nine quarters. Shares are down 34.2% year-over-year and now risk slipping below recent support at $48.50 and dropping below $48 for the first time in five years.
Despite a bearish analyst outlook -- 15 of 20 firms in coverage rate the equity a "hold" or worse -- options traders are showing bullish interest. At the International Securities (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the investment's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 3.36 sits in the 88th percentile of the past year.
In the options pits, puts are outpacing calls, with 6,680 contracts traded versus 5,036 -- seven times the typical intraday volume. The most active contracts are the September 47.50-strike put and 50-strike call, followed by the November 45-strike put.
