Stop Trading!
Jim Cramer's 'Stop Trading!': Buy General Mills!
TheStreet.com Staff
03/27/08 - 05:20 PM EDT
Updated from 2:57 p.m. EDT
Buy General Mills GIS Jim Cramer said on CNBC's "Stop Trading!" segment Thursday.
Cramer welcomed CEO Kendall Powell to the show to discuss what Cramer called an "unbelievable quarter." The company reported earnings on March 20.
Cramer asked Powell, "I would want to know, if we deemphasized ethanol ... what it would do to the grain complex."
Powell said food inflation would decline slightly. However, "it's not the fundamental issue," he said. "The fundamental issue is the global economy." He pointed to increased demand in China and India as the reason for rising food prices.
Cramer agreed. "The worldwide demand picture is so strong that it may not be a bubble," he said. Powell said he believes grain prices will come down slightly from these levels but the long-term story is intact.
"You have to buy General Mills," Cramer said. He said that if commodity costs do decline, the company's profit margins will improve. "I've liked the stock since the 80s," he said. "Your kids like it as much as you do."
Know What You Own: General Mills operates in the consumer goods industry, and some of the other stocks in its field include Kellogg K, ConAgra Foods CAG, Sara Lee SLE, Kraft Foods KFT, Procter & Gamble PG and Tyson Foods TSN. These stocks closed Thursday at ($51.92, +0.48%), ($23.45, +7.13%), ($13.62, +1.87%), ($30.94, +0.39%), ($69.41, -0.33%) and ($16.12, -2.18%) respectively. For more on the value of knowing what you own, visit TheStreet.com's Investing A-to-Z section.