Technical trouble has been looming on the charts since October
Packaged food producer General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) took another turn in the earnings confessional, though this time around, its quarterly results seemed to miss the mark, with fiscal third-quarter earnings of 82 cents per share coming in two cents short of analysts' estimates, though revenue topped expectations. The company announced the resumption of its share buyback program, and added it expects at-home food consumption to be strong, even after the pandemic. Nonetheless, GIS is down 5% at $58.16 this morning.
Today's drop brings GIS back below its year-to-date breakeven level, as well as its 10-day moving average, which helped guide the equity to yesterday's five-month peak just above the $62 level. This region has acted as a ceiling for GIS since October, however, keeping the stock from rallying back toward its Aug. 4, four-year high of $66.14.
Sentiment has remained the same since General Mill's last report in December, with four analysts calling the equity a "strong buy," compared to eight "hold" or worse ratings. Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus price target of $63.11 represents a 8.4% premium to current levels.
And while call volume is still heavier overall, long puts have rarely been more popular. This is evidenced by General Mills stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which stands higher than all but 2% of readings from the past year.
This uptick in bearish trading is pervading today's options activity, too. So far, 1,816 puts and 1,843 calls have crossed the tape -- four times the intraday average. The most popular is the April 57.50 put, followed by the 62.50 call in the same monthly series.