General Mills Inc Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Peter Galbo - Bofa Merrill Lynch Asset Holdings Inc - Analyst : Jeff, I just wanted to pick up on maybe some of your commentary just now in terms of the sustainability of the volume growth in North America Retail. I think there was mention of a bit of maybe some shipment timing benefit in the quarter. But just want to get a sense as we start to look at the comps and looking in the back half of the year, how you're thinking about maybe the sustainability of that positive volume trajectory in North America Retail.

Question: Peter Galbo - Bofa Merrill Lynch Asset Holdings Inc - Analyst : Okay. No, helpful. And Jeff, I think the discussion around price cliff management and solving some of the price gaps has grown even louder in the past week with one of your largest peers also announcing some pretty dramatic price reductions. Just curious kind of how you're viewing the competitive environment, what you're expecting from some of your other peers? Just are we in a phase of the cycle where others are going to have to follow? Kind of what's been a first-mover advantage for General Mills?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : Jeff, in your current quarter, so fiscal 3Q, General Mills starts to lap some of the pricing moves from last year. And I think you've talked about how you anticipate the sort of the gap between volume share, which has been improving and value share, right, to begin to narrow, which is ultimately necessary to get to overall organic sales growth. So I guess my question is like what specifically should our expectations be in sort of fiscal 3Q and 4Q as to sort of how quickly this gap can narrow as we all kind of assess the scanner data moving forward? And like where would you hope to be on this score as General Mills enters fiscal '27? It sounds like you expect sustained year-over-year volume growth in the back half. How do we think about sort of price mix and particularly in light of your comments regarding the cost of volume rising a bit? Just trying to get a sense of how to set expectations for how quickly that gap can narrow and when the expectation is to get to sort of absolute organic sales growth, if you will?

Question: Andrew Lazar - Barclays Services Corp - Analyst : I know you're seeing some momentum, obviously, in progress in core pet. I'm just curious what you're seeing in just the overall, let's call it, like dog feeding category. Any -- I know you've been probably hoping for that broader category to be a little bit stronger than it has been. But what are you seeing there in terms of consumer behavior?

Question: Max Gumport - Exane Bnp Paribas - Analyst : It's nice to see volumes turning positive in the quarter on the back of your investment retail and also to hear the continued confidence you have in this continuing in the back half. I guess what I'm trying to get a sense for is, one, an update on your thinking on the ability for volumes to stay positive after you lap these price cuts? And then two, as you look at the investments you've got in the business through the first half, whether you think it's been enough or you might go back to the well next year as well, given that they are working. So getting a sense for whether having these investments in the base is enough or if you might need to do more again next year.

Question: Max Gumport - Exane Bnp Paribas - Analyst : Great. And then just one follow-up with regard to the overdelivery on profit in 2Q. So it sounds like you would say it's essentially going to unwind in 3Q given the timing benefits you laid out in the prepared remarks. versus consensus, you had about $0.08 of outperformance in the quarter. So would it be fair to say there could be $0.08 coming out of 3Q and EPS might be down roughly speaking, 20% or so

Question: John Baumgartner - Mizuho Securities USA LLC - Analyst : Maybe Jeff or Dana, in the prepared comments, you noted the inclination of consumers to buy more on promo. And I'm curious if you can elaborate on that. Just given the mention of the higher cost of volume, are you finding that you need to embed some wiggle room for larger promo to cater to that shopping dynamic? And I'm also curious, I guess, bigger picture, how you're seeing the balance between EDLP versus maybe a high-low strategy in this kind of an environment relative to past periods of economic weakness?

Question: Thomas Palmer - JPMorgan Chase & Co - Analyst : First, just wanted to ask on inflation and tariff. Previously, 4% to 5% of COGS was the outlook. The bakery index pricing would suggest what costs are favorable and then maybe there was a small amount of tariff relief to consider. So just any update on that outlook and kind of maybe the -- as we think about the back half of the year, if there's any sort of favorability.

Question: Thomas Palmer - JPMorgan Chase & Co - Analyst : Okay. And just a follow-up on international. I think in the first quarter, you called out a 3% timing benefit that you expected to unwind in the second quarter, and you kind of noted some timing headwinds in 2Q as well. I just wanted to confirm, were there incremental tailwinds? Or was it more this 3% timing benefit did not unwind as we think about the second quarter and becomes more of a factor in the back half?

Question: Steve Powers - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Jeff, pivoting back to Pet, you talked in your opening remarks about positive delivery against Lovemade Fresh, but also progress on the base business. And I guess I'm curious as to what degree you think Lovemade Fresh has, in some ways, contributed to that base business progress, even though it's still early. I guess any evidence as to whether you're seeing favorable interplay between the Fresh initiative and or Blue Buffalo?

Question: Steve Powers - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Fair enough. Kofi, if I could, just a little bit more in the back half. Just anything to call out in terms of how much HMM impact is yet to come? And any phasing considerations in terms of how that's likely to layer in 3Q versus 4Q?

Question: Megan Alexander - Morgan Stanley & Co Ltd - Analyst : I wanted to ask about the higher cost of volume that you called out in the prepared remarks. And Kofi, I think in your prepared remarks, you talked about how you expect that to pressure margins in the third quarter. You obviously still reaffirm the full year guidance. So can you just help us understand how that's embedded into the full year outlook? And is there incremental flexibility in other lines that's kind of offsetting that incremental margin pressure? And how should we think about whether there's further flexibility should that continue to evolve as you called out something you're watching?

Question: Megan Alexander - Morgan Stanley & Co Ltd - Analyst : Okay. That makes sense. And maybe just as a follow-up, last quarter, you talked about how your category tows were lagging your full year expectations a bit driven by a few discrete categories. I was just curious if you could give us an update on how the category growth within the quarter trended, just particularly given there was a lot of noise around SNAP and the government shutdown. So understanding, again, there might be noise kind of embedded within that, but just how you're thinking about the category growth and kind of your confidence in the full year, what's embedded in the full year outlook?

Question: Chris Carey - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : Can you just expand a bit on the percentage of your portfolio where you've taken or initiated pricing investments? Just to get a sense of the percentage of portfolio where you haven't done it. And connected, say this cost to compete environment sustains or it gets worse. Can you just talk about visibility on savings initiatives that would give you an ability to respond to some of these changes in the backdrop, specifically once some of the anomalies in inflation like tariffs start to lap going into next year?

Question: Chris Carey - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : Okay. Just a quick follow-up is on Wilderness. Can you just expand on where we're at with Wilderness, the current strategy with Wilderness and how you could envision potential tweaks or just thought process on how to improve the performance of the business if current strategy isn't delivering the results that you'd like in the coming quarters? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 17, 2025 / 2:00PM, GIS.N - Q2 2026 General Mills Inc Earnings Call

Question: Matthew Smith - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Inc - Analyst : Dana, you talked about a high hit rate where you have the price adjustments and remarkability framework in place, I think, 90% or so. But there's obviously 10% that's still lagging your expectation. You talked about Totino's a bit, but is there a common thread that needs to be addressed around some of the areas where you've seen less effectiveness?

Question: Matthew Smith - Stifel, Nicolaus & Company Inc - Analyst : And as a follow-up question, as it relates to the channel shift you mentioned in pet, it's been ongoing that consumers are moving towards unmeasured channels. But what channels are you currently seeing take share from traditional channels? And what do you think is driving the consumer behavior there?