PowerRatings Stock Spotlight: General Mills

Hagan Daz vanilla ice cream mixed with Lucky Charms is by far my favorite desert. There really is nothing better in the world of sweet and tasty foods.

I am a strong proponent of Peter Lynch's famous adage to invest in what you know, like and understand. I am always aware of my environment and products that I enjoy as potential stock investments. This week's stock spotlight, if you haven't guessed, is the maker of both Hagen Daz ice cream and Lucky Charms cereal -- General Mills (GIS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating).

This multi brand, supermarket food powerhouse was just upgraded from an 8 to a 9 Long Term PowerRating. They make everything from frozen pizza to yogurt and own a host of household names. However, I believe, they are best known for breakfast cereal such as Lucky Charms and Cheerios.

If your not familiar with our PowerRatings, our studies have proven that stocks earning a 9 Long Term PowerRating have a 79.1% chance of being higher one year later. Let's take a closer look at this 9 rated stock.

General Mills started in 1860 with 2 flour mills. They soon grew and started to produce children's products such as Monopoly and Play Doh. Most interestingly, in the 1930's their famous cereal, Wheaties, sponsored a baseball announcers contest. Ronald Reagan won this contest and was sent to California as the prize. While in California, Reagan took a screen test, became an actor and the rest is history. One can truly say that General Mill's provided Reagan the kick start he needed to step into politics and eventually become the President of the United States. That's an amazing legacy for this company.

They just reported strong results for their fiscal first quarter. Sales are up 14%, operating profits gained 9% and excluding market to market shock, earnings per share would have been up 19%. This company appears to be weathering the financial storm quite impressively. Technically, General Mills looks strong. It's been in an uptrend since January, 2008. Recently, price has dropped down to around the 66 level but the uptrend is still in full effect. Provided the high Long Term PowerRating, the strong fundamentals and the solid technical picture, General Mills is definitely a company all long term stock investors should consider.

Learn what you need to know as an active investor looking to invest in companies with a history of financial strength and a track record for growth. Click the link above or call us at 888-484-8220 extension 1 to get your copy of the "5 Secrets to Successful Stock Investing" today!

David Goodboy is Vice President of Marketing for a New York City based multi-strategy fund.