GIS vs WK: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: GIS is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. GIS and WK share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined GIS and WK exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

General Mills is a Minneapolis-based packaged-food company that sells cereal, snacks, baking products, frozen meals, yogurt, ice cream, and pet food across roughly 100 countries. Its portfolio is anchored by billion-dollar brands including Cheerios, Pillsbury, Nature Valley, Old El Paso, Haagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Progresso, Totino's, Yoplait, and Blue Buffalo pet food. The business runs in four reporting segments: North America Retail (the largest at about $10.6 billion in fiscal 2026), North America Pet (about $2.6 billion), International (about $3.0 billion), and North America Foodservice (about $2.2 billion). The company makes money the way a consumer-staples maker does, selling everyday branded food at a modest markup, then defending shelf space and pricing power through marketing and innovation.

Full GIS guide

Workiva (NYSE: WK) sells a single cloud platform for regulated reporting. Finance, audit, risk and sustainability teams pull figures from their ERP, general ledger and other systems, assemble documents that stay linked back to those sources, and file the result with regulators. The original wedge was SEC filings and XBRL tagging, where changing one number has to flow through every table and footnote that uses it. From there the company added SOX and internal controls, statutory reporting, ESEF filings in Europe, and sustainability disclosure. Around 92% of revenue is subscription and support, spread across roughly 6,750 customer organizations including a large share of the Fortune 500.

Full WK guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• GIS drivers: Cost-savings program funding the turnaround; Pet and International as growth pockets.
• WK drivers: Large accounts, not logo count; The margin turn arrived a year early.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The dominant risk is stalled volume growth. For WK, european scope is the clearest risk.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick GIS if you believe its drivers more; WK if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the GIS and WK guides.

GIS. Figures are approximate and tied to the asOf date; verify live numbers before acting. General Mills trades at a marked discount to its own history and to consumer-staples peers, which reflects flat-to-negative organic growth and a cautious fiscal 2027 outlook rather than a distressed balance sheet. The low multiple and high yield mean the market is pricing in continued softness, so the numbers matter most as a gauge of how much pessimism is already built in.

WK. At ~$74 a share the market value is ~$4.17B. Netting out ~$815M of cash and adding back ~$773M of converts puts enterprise value near ~$4.1B, roughly 4x the ~$1.04B of revenue guided for 2026 and about 19x the free cash flow that a ~21% margin implies. Software growing in the high teens with cash margins near 20% carried far richer multiples in 2021; the market now pays for steady compounding rather than acceleration, and Workiva is priced accordingly.

Headline figures (approximate, July 2026): GIS shows net sales (fiscal 2026, full year) ~$18.4 billion, down 5% (organic down 2%), adjusted diluted eps (fiscal 2026) ~$3.55, down 16% in constant currency, q4 fiscal 2026 adjusted eps ~$0.95, ahead of the ~$0.81 consensus, dividend ~$2.44 per share annually (yield ~6.5%); WK shows revenue (ttm) ~$966M, q2 2026 revenue growth ~19% year over year, subscription also ~19%, non-gaap operating margin (q2 2026) ~16.8%, up from ~3.8%, 2026 free cash flow margin guidance ~21% on ~$1.04B of revenue.

GIS and WK are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined GIS and WK exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.