NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- General Mills (GIS) - Get Report is seeking a buyer for its Green Giant frozen food division amid struggling returns from its other segments, according to Reuters.

The Minneapolis-based company is working with the Rothschild investment bank on the sale which is expected to occur sometime this summer, sources told Reuters. Neither party commented on the report.

The Green Giant segment features over 160 different food products ranging from frozen vegetables to hummus and generates about $700 million in revenue annually. 

The company did beat analysts' earnings estimates for the first time in five quarters last period, earning 80 cents per diluted share, and beating the 77 cent per share consensus.

The company releases its third quarter results in one week and analysts are expecting it to report earnings of 67 cents per share on revenue of $4.4 billion.

General Mills shares are down 0.44% to $51.55 in trading today.

TheStreet Ratings team rates GENERAL MILLS INC as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate GENERAL MILLS INC (GIS) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in stock price during the past year, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• Compared to where it was 12 months ago, the stock is up, but it has so far lagged the appreciation in the S&P 500. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.
• Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 9.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 3.4%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• 37.73% is the gross profit margin for GENERAL MILLS INC which we consider to be strong. Regardless of GIS's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 7.34% trails the industry average.
• The company's current return on equity has slightly decreased from the same quarter one year prior. This implies a minor weakness in the organization. When compared to other companies in the Food Products industry and the overall market, GENERAL MILLS INC's return on equity exceeds that of the industry average and significantly exceeds that of the S&P 500.
• GENERAL MILLS INC's earnings per share declined by 33.3% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. We feel it is likely to report a decline in earnings in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, GENERAL MILLS INC increased its bottom line by earning $2.83 versus $2.79 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 0.5% in earnings ($2.82 versus $2.83).
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: GIS Ratings Report