Bank of America Forecasts General Mills F4Q13

In a report published on Friday, Bank of America analyst Bryan D. Spillane reiterated a Buy rating and a price target of $50 on General Mills GIS while forecasting the F4Q13 earnings results that General Mills plans to report on Wednesday, June 26th, before the market opens. In the report, Bank of America stated, "We are forecasting F4Q13 EPS of $0.55 and FY13 EPS of $2.70, which is $0.01 above the EPS guidance range (management recently preannounced and raised its EPS guidance from $2.66-$2.68 to $2.68-2.69). Key elements of our forecast: 1) Sales are forecasted to be up +4.5% y/y in F4Q13 and 5.7% y/y for FY13; US Retail organic growth is forecasted to be +1% for F4Q13 and FY13. 2) Gross margin is forecasted to be down -200bps in F4Q13 and -70bp for the year, driven by changes in business mix (Yoplait) and timing of merchandising. 3) Operating margin is forecasted to be down -160bps in F4Q13 and down -30bps for the year." General Mills closed on Thursday at $48.21.