09/14/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/14/2026 15:57
General Mills (NYSE:GIS) is set to report its earnings on Tuesday, September 23, 2026. The company has $19 billion in current market capitalization. Revenue over the last twelve months was $18 billion, and it was operationally profitable with $2.7 billion in operating profits. While a lot will depend on how results stack up against consensus and expectations, understanding historical patterns might just turn the odds in your favor if you are an event-driven trader.
There are two ways to do that: understand the historical odds and position yourself prior to the earnings release, or look at the correlation between immediate and medium-term returns post earnings and position yourself accordingly after the earnings are released.
See earnings reaction history of all stocks
Ask yourself - Is holding GIS stock risky? Of course it is. The Trefis High Quality Portfolio mitigates that risk.
General Mills's Historical Odds Of Positive Post-Earnings Return
Some observations on one-day (1D) post-earnings returns:
Additional data for observed 5-Day (5D) and 21-Day (21D) returns post earnings are summarized along with the statistics in the table below.
| Forward Returns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Earnings Date | 1D | 5D | 21D |
| 7/1/2026 | 8.5% | 4.4% | 6.5% |
| 3/18/2026 | -3.0% | -5.0% | -7.3% |
| 12/17/2025 | 3.4% | -0.8% | -4.0% |
| 9/17/2025 | -0.8% | 2.0% | -2.5% |
| 6/25/2025 | -5.1% | -0.4% | -3.2% |
| 3/19/2025 | -2.1% | -4.4% | -5.6% |
| 12/18/2024 | -3.1% | -3.3% | -8.0% |
| 9/18/2024 | 0.7% | -1.0% | -3.9% |
| 6/26/2024 | -4.6% | -6.1% | -1.2% |
| 3/20/2024 | 1.2% | -0.4% | 1.5% |
| 12/20/2023 | -3.6% | -3.0% | -4.4% |
| 9/20/2023 | -0.02% | -1.0% | -3.2% |
| 6/28/2023 | -5.2% | -4.4% | -6.6% |
| 3/23/2023 | 2.9% | 6.5% | 10.2% |
| 12/20/2022 | -4.6% | -1.4% | -10.5% |
| 9/21/2022 | 5.7% | 3.4% | 4.3% |
| 6/29/2022 | 6.3% | 8.5% | 6.9% |
| 3/23/2022 | 2.5% | 7.9% | 17.6% |
| 12/21/2021 | -4.0% | -1.3% | 1.8% |
| 9/22/2021 | 3.3% | 2.3% | 9.0% |
| SUMMARY STATS | |||
| # Positive | 9 | 7 | 8 |
| # Negative | 11 | 13 | 12 |
| Median Positive | 3.3% | 4.4% | 6.7% |
| Median Negative | -3.6% | -1.4% | -4.2% |
| Max Positive | 8.5% | 8.5% | 17.6% |
| Max Negative | -5.2% | -6.1% | -10.5% |
Correlation Between 1D, 5D and 21D Historical Returns
A relatively less risky strategy (though not useful if the correlation is low) is to understand the correlation between short-term and medium-term returns post earnings, find a pair that has the highest correlation, and execute the appropriate trade. For example, 5D_21D shows the strongest correlation here: if the 5D post-earnings return is positive, a trader can position themselves in the same direction over the following 21D window.
Here is some correlation data based on a 5-year and a 3-year (more recent) history. Note that these correlations are between subsequent windows, not the cumulative columns above: 1D_5D is the correlation between the 1D post-earnings return and the subsequent return from day 1 through day 5, 1D_21D is between the 1D return and the subsequent return from day 1 through day 21, and 5D_21D is between the 5D return and the subsequent return from day 5 through day 21.
| History | 1D_5D | 1D_21D | 5D_21D |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5Y History | -24.0% | 4.7% | 30.6% |
| 3Y History | -57.3% | -41.4% | -16.0% |
Separately, if you want upside with a smoother ride than an individual stock such as GIS, consider the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, has a track record of comfortably outperforming its benchmark that includes all 3 - the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.