General Mills, Inc. (GIS) posted its first quarter earnings on Wednesday, September 18. The company’s stock fell over 1% despite exceeding revenue expectations for the quarter.

Net sales totaled $4.85 billion for the quarter, down 1% from $4.90 billion one year ago. Quarterly revenue beat analysts’ estimates of $4.80 billion.

“Our top priority in fiscal 2025 is to accelerate our organic net sales growth, and we made expected progress on that goal in the first quarter along multiple fronts, with more work still ahead,” said General Mills CEO, Jeff Harmening. “We strengthened our core by delivering more remarkable experiences to consumers, which translated into improved volume, net sales, and market share trends versus the previous quarter.”

The company reported net income of $579.9 million or $1.03 per adjusted share for the quarter. This was down from $673.5 million or $1.14 per adjusted share during the same quarter last year.

General Mills reported that operating profit decreased 11% to $831.5 million for the quarter. In the first quarter, General Mills reported a 2% decrease to $3.02 billion in net sales for its North America Retail segment. The Pet segment declined 1% to $576.1 million during the quarter. The company’s International segment remained flat at $717 million in net sales. For fiscal 2025, the company anticipates organic sales to be between flat and 1% year-over-year.

General Mills, Inc. (GIS) shares ended the week at $74.51, remaining relatively unchanged for the week.

FedEx Delivers Earnings

FedEx Corp. (FDX) released its first quarter earnings report on Thursday, September 19. The company reported weaker-than-expected earnings, resulting in its stock dropping by 8% following the release of the report.

Revenue came in at $21.58 billion for the quarter, down 1% from $21.68 billion at this time last year. This was below analysts’ expected quarterly revenue of $21.87 billion.

“Despite a challenging quarter, we remain focused on transforming our network, improving our efficiency, lowering our cost-to-serve, and enhancing our ability to adapt with speed to evolving market dynamics,” said FedEx CEO, Raj Subramaniam. “Overall, I remain confident in the value creation opportunities ahead as we focus on reducing our structural cost, growing revenue profitably, and leveraging the insights from our vast collection of data as we continue to build the world’s most flexible, efficient and intelligent network.”

The company posted net income of $794 million or $3.21 per adjusted share for the quarter. This was down from $1.10 billion or $4.23 per adjusted share one year ago.

On June 1, 2024, FedEx Ground and FedEx Services merged into a unified Federal Express segment. The Federal Express segment reported $18.31 billion in revenue, a decrease during the first quarter due to one fewer operating day and lower U.S. domestic priority package volume. FedEx Freight also decreased by 2% to $2.33 billion. For fiscal 2025, FedEx expects earnings per adjusted share to be between $17.90 and $18.90 compared to previous estimates of between $18.25 and $20.25.

FedEx (FDX) shares ended the week at $254.64, down 12% for the week.

Cracker Barrel Serves Up Quarterly Earnings

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL) announced its fourth quarter and fiscal 2024 earnings report on Thursday, September 19. The Tennessee-based company’s stock remained relatively unchanged following the release.

Cracker Barrel posted quarterly revenue of $894.4 million. This was up 7% from $836.7 million during the same quarter last year and below analysts’ expectations of $897.2 million. For the full year, revenue came in at $3.5 billion, a 1% increase from $3.4 billion one year ago.

"Our teams are highly engaged and intently focused on executing our strategic transformation and our day-to-day business at a high level,” said Cracker Barrel CEO, Julie Masino. “We are already making great progress and are encouraged by the initial results of key initiatives such as operational excellence and the guest experience, optimized pricing, and our remodel program. Although there is much work to be done, I am both excited and confident in our future."

Cracker Barrel reported fourth quarter net income of $18.1 million or $0.81 per adjusted share. Last year at this time, the company reported net income of $37.5 million or $1.68 per adjusted share. For the full year, the company’s net income was $40.9 million.

Cracker Barrel comparable store restaurant sales increased 0.4%, while comparable store retail sales decreased 4.2%. The company ended the period with 658 Cracker Barrel stores and 66 Maple Street Biscuit Company stores, a net increase of three additional company-owned stores compared to the prior year. The company confirmed it authorized a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share of common stock payable on November 13, 2024, to shareholders of record as of October 18, 2024. The company anticipates full-year 2025 revenue in the range of $3.4 billion to $3.5 billion.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (CBRL) shares closed at $41.57, up 6% for the week.

The Dow started the week of 9/16 at 41,435 and closed at 42,063 on 9/20. The S&P 500 started the week at 5,615 and closed at 5,703. The NASDAQ started the week at 17,574 and closed at 17,948.

U.S. Treasury yields rose early in the week as investors assessed the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates. Yields fell towards the end of the week as investors weighed the latest employment numbers following interest rates cuts.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced it lowered its benchmark interest rate by half of a percentage point, resulting in the federal funds rate down in the range between 4.75% to 5%. This represents the Fed’s first rate cut in four years to help ease the cost of borrowing.

"It has been a long marathon — the Fed feels it is time to lower interest rates again," said personal finance expert for NerdWallet, Sara Rathner. "Consumers are definitely feeling the pinch. It has been this one-two punch of higher interest rates and inflation."

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield opened the week of September 16 at 3.66% and traded as high as 3.77% on Thursday. The 30-year Treasury bond opened the week at 3.98% and traded as high as 4.09% on Thursday.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims for unemployment decreased by 12,000 to 219,000 for the week ended September 14. Continuing unemployment claims decreased by 14,000, reaching 1.83 million.

"These hard numbers confirm the message delivered by Fed Chair Powell yesterday," said chief economist at High Frequency Economics, Carl Weinberg. "The labor market is softening but not imploding as you would expect in a recession. Fed policy is aimed at supporting the job market before a recession shapes up."

The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week of 9/16 at 3.75%, while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 4.08%.

Freddie Mac released its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday, September 19. The survey showed mortgage rates continuing to decline in response to the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates for the first time in four years.

This week, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.09%, down from last week’s average of 6.20%. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 7.19%.

The 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 5.15% this week, down from last week’s 5.27%. During the same week last year, the 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.54%.

“Mortgage rates continued declining towards the 6% mark, reviving purchase and refinance demand for many consumers,” said Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, Sam Khater. “While mortgage rates do not directly follow moves by the Federal Reserve, this first cut in over four years will have an impact on the housing market. Declining mortgage rates over the last several weeks indicate this cut was mostly baked in, but we expect rates to fall further, sparking more housing activity.”

Based on published national averages, the savings rate was 0.46% as of 9/16. The one-year CD averaged 1.88%.

Editor’s Note: The publicly available financial information is offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends. This article is not an endorsement of any company, product or service.