General Mills Inc. Faces Skeptics With Q2 Results Wednesday

General Mills Inc.

is facing accelerating headwinds and growing risk to its earnings outlook, an analyst said Monday. The maker of Cheerios and Hamburger Helper is set to issue fiscal second-quarter results Wednesday to increasingly skeptical investors, with shares down more than 5 percent in the past six months. Minneapolis-based company last month cut its 2015 earnings outlook, citing weak food-industry trends in the U.S. and slowing growth in emerging markets. "We worry about earnings risk in the coming quarters, " Deutsche Bank's Eric Katzman said in a note Monday that maintained a Hold rating and $54 target. Second-quarter earnings will decline about 8 percent from a year earlier to between $0.75 cents and $0.77 cents a share, from $0.83 cents a share a year earlier, the company said in November. Analysts on average currently expect earnings of $0.77 cents a share, on revenue of $4.79 billion. General Mills last month cut its 2015 earnings growth rate to the "low single-digits" rate, from its previous forecast for mid single-digit rate. As of last month, General Mills said its market share was off in the year to date by 15 basis points, led by declines in frozen vegetables and dessert mixes. It aims to cut up to $280 million in costs by 2016. General Mills closed Monday down $0.63 cents a share at $51.47.