When the economic outlook is in doubt, go with those companies that have clout. And food giant General Mills (GIS), first recommend on April 8, 2009 at a split-adjust price of $25.40 ($50.80 pre-split), has clout.

Solid brands (Cheerios, Wheaties, Lucky Charms, Total and Chex), good cash flow, manufacturing efficiencies, room for international expansion, and a raised, split-adjust $1.12 annual dividend ($1.96 pre-split) rounds-out an impressive story.

General Mills (GIS), whose colleagues at the food markets include Kellogg (K), Kraft Foods (KFT), and Campbell Soup (CPB), performed well in the fiscal third quarter. On an adjusted basis, net income increased 23% to 97 cents per diluted share. This beat estimates by four pennies.

General Mills was able to expand the gross margin by keeping an eye on efficiency opportunities and optimizing the overall quality of the inventory mix. Of course, there was a little luck involved, too, as commodity costs weren't as expensive as they previously had been. It's always good when that happens.

Campbell Soup's (CPB) second-quarter earnings weren't met with enthusiasm. At the time of this writing, shares of the food concern, which operates in the same industry as General Mills (GIS) and Kraft (KFT), were down 1.6% in afternoon trading. Although growth was achieved during the reporting period, it apparently wasn't enough to satisfy investors.

According to the press release, Campbell made 74 cents per share. This number is a penny ahead of estimates. It is also representative of a growth rate of 16%. The top line, however, was exciting not in the least. It increased 1%. Worse, the all-important U.S. soup sales category contracted by 8%.

General Mills, Inc. (GIS), a food company that competes in the cereal aisles with Kellogg Company (K), performed well in the second quarter. The top line didn't budge too much, but the bottom line moved up 13% to $1.54 on an adjusted basis. Cash from operations really stood out. For the six-month period, over $980 million was generated from business activities. In the comparable frame, over $360 million was booked.

According to our earnings preview, the market was expecting $1.44 per share in net income. What drove the very positive results? I think you can definitely allocate a fair amount of praise to execution. But you can also credit brand power and a more favorable commodity environment as fiscal drivers.

Trix are for kids ... but they are getting a little less sweet. General Mills (NYSE: GIS) has announced plans to reduce the amount of sugar in the cereal brands it markets to cereal. This includes Lucky Charms, Trix, and Cocoa Puffs, the latter of which could see its sugar content drop up to 25% from its original level (and 18% from its current 11 grams per serving).

Fans of Franken Berry and Boo Berry can rest assured - these cereals will still contain their 12 grams of sugar, as they are not actively marketed to children. Though with their cartoon characters and marshmallows, I find it hard to believe that these are meant for an adults-only demographic.

The Minneapolis-based company says the move is responding to consumer demand for less sugar. It also failed to disclose how it would cut the sugar content, but did pledge not to use artificial sweeteners.

Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) didn't need a hearty breakfast to get its stock going today (although I'm sure it had one anyway). All it needed was a reasonably healthy earnings report. Judging by how the stock is performing, I think the company got one.

For the third quarter, Kellogg saw flat sales growth. However, take out currency effects and acquisitions, and you've got a 3% expansion rate on the top line. Well, that isn't so robust, either, but let's head to the bottom line. Earnings per share came in at 94 cents, representative of a 6% increase. Not so bad, and according to Mark Fightmaster's preview, that was a dime better than what analysts wanted to see.

One of my wonderful friends, Ms. P, asked me for some guidance on how she might allocate $50,000 currently earning peanuts in a money market account. Though she is decades from becoming a grandmother, after a brief discussion about her financial parameters, it became clear to me that she was looking for a "granny fund."

In reality, my recommendations would be suitable, and perhaps desirable, for many passive investors as well.

The $50,000 is a portion of money Ms. P has set aside to purchase a home, which might happen in six months, but could also be pushed out further, depending on the economy and her situation. Basically, she wants to cover all her bases because she might need the money at any time and does not want to be caught short, while at the same time she would like to generate some revenue without taking any big risks.

This morning food maker General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) reported its fiscal first numbers. The company posted better than expected earnings and lifted its forward guidance.

As I noted yesterday in the earnings preview, analysts had been expecting General Mills to post earnings of $1.03 per share, but the company surprised to the upside by reporting $1.25 per share. Excluding certain items, the company would have seen earnings of $1.28 per share.

Minneapolis based General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) will be reporting its fiscal first quarter results Wednesday morning before the market opens.

The last time that General Mills reported earnings was on July 1 when the company outpaced analyst estimates of 81 cents per share by posting actual earnings of 86 cents for its fiscal fourth quarter. This time analysts are expecting to see the company show earnings of $1.03 per share.

Despite what you here from almost all quarters about the market dropping ten percent or so, in what is deemed a bear market correction of our recent bear market rally, I will continue to buy into this market. Of course I will be selective, and as always be thinking long term. This has helped me substantially over the past ten months beating the market by a huge margin.

Keeping this in mind I examined my watch list for candidates that have been long term winners, and consistently beat the overall market using the Standard & Poors 500 index for comparison. The volatility in the market is certain to produce more buying opportunities.

Food manufacturer General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) recently reported a 5% jump in fourth-quarter net sales. This resulted in a net income jump of almost 10%, from $185.2 million to $358.8 million. This translated into a leap from 53 cents to $1.07 per share, or an adjusted earnings increase from 73 cents to 86 cents per share. In the same period, sales increased from $3.47 billion to $3.65 billion.

Although most famous for its breakfast cereals, General Mills actually provides a wide array of home cooking products, ranging from the old-fashioned to the organic and from raw ingredients to fully-prepared meals. As such, it is positioned to experience massive growth as recession-plagued former restaurant customers start cooking at home and economizing home chefs move away from pricey prepared dishes.

The company is predicting that its 2010 adjusted net will increase by as much as 7%, a move that will yield a jump of up to 27 cents per share, from $3.98 to $4.25. For General Mills, at least, the recession looks like a fantastic growth opportunity.

Profits up in the heartland; at least for General Mills (NYSE: GIS) as they doubled in the fourth quarter beating analysts estimates by promoting their strong brands to consumers as management understood well the economic headwinds they were facing.

This contributed to GIS income for the year making it into positive territory as it reported this morning that net income edged up to $1.3 billion, or $3.80 per share, from $1.29 billion, or $3.71 per share, in the prior year. Annual sales climbed 8 percent to $14.69 billion from $13.65 billion.

Shares of Del Monte (NYSE: DLM) are up over 9% in early afternoon trading. And the volume is doing gangbusters business. The market is responding to the company's fourth-quarter results. The numbers did tell an overall fun story.

To begin with, revenues saw a big jump of 20%. As many news items have pointed out, price increases helped out. It should also be pointed out that the company's press release indicated that an extra week skewed things a bit. That's okay, though, it was still a good top-line performance. Earnings per share from continuing divisions came in at $0.35, which meant that Del Monte grew the bottom line by 75% (a couple elements affecting the perception of this profit expansion was a better tax situation linked to a positive change in California tax code and a $0.04 per-share transformation expense recorded in Q4 2008). Analysts said the company might earn $0.26 per share. That's a pleasant difference, isn't it?

Summer is here and green shoots are popping up everywhere. Paul Krugman calls a recovery by September, a very fast turnaround for someone who has been very bearish. Taiwan exports hit a six-month high last month, sparking hopes that the electronics industry is set for a recovery -- a nice high multiplier economics shift.

Meanwhile, what's good for General Mills (NYS: GIS) is good for America and the cereal maker upped guidance, implying a bottom in consumer staples and that, at the very least, cutbacks in purchases of essentials reported in the latest spending numbers are overblown.

Alex Salkever is the Director of Research at Piqqem.com, a stock prediction and analysis community powered by the Wisdom of Crowds.

Supermarket staple ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG) reported earnings for the third quarter on Thursday. Wall Street was bullish on the company since the bottom-line performance beat the expectations of analysts. Shares of the stock closed up over 9% at the end of yesterday's trading session.

Sales increased slightly over 6% and net income came in at 40 cents per diluted share on an adjusted basis. That was good for an 18% growth rate on the bottom line. Market analysts were only counting on 36 cents per share. So, you can see why the market was excited.