Today's stock market might be more interesting in gold, gas, and Google, but business goes on as usual for Kellogg (NYSE:K). And given that this company manages itself at a rather high level, that's just fine.

Reported revenue was up 6% for the first quarter, though it was a touch higher if you exclude the damage wrought by foreign currency. Gross margins eased back a bit and reported operating profit was up just 1%, but the company's "internal" operating income growth was more on the order of 6% (that is, excluding stock option expense, foreign currency, and so forth).

Sales were strongest in North America, and both the cereal business and snack business performed well. In fact, it looks like Kellogg's cereals might have gained some market share -- something that I doubt the folks at General Mills (NYSE:GIS) or Kraft (NYSE:KFT) are just going to ignore. I found it interesting, though, that sales were pretty weak in the Asia-Pacific territory -- I guess Kellogg still has work to do in converting people from congee and natto to corn flakes.

In some respects, I regard this quarter as the pause that refreshes. The company will be advertising and marketing more aggressively as the year goes on, and that should show up in the sales line. Likewise, as the quarter-to-quarter quirks of accounting rules and timing work themselves out, I expect we'll see ongoing improvements in returns on capital and other similar metrics.

Sitting back and thinking about Kellogg, I had a strange notion. What happens to Kellogg if America really goes nuts on ethanol? After all, Kellogg's primary ingredient for most of its products is grain of some sort or another, and there's only a finite amount of land upon which to grow crops. Now, this is just a little whimsical thought, not a thesis, but if you see Kellogg introduce its brand new Soylent Green Flakes, you might wanna just leave that on the shelves.

In the meantime, these shares don't really excite me for new money. Sure, it's still a great company and one of my favorites in the food sector, but I have a double standard when it comes to stocks. I want a double-digit discount to fair value before I buy, though I'm willing to hold up to (and beyond) fair value once I'm already in. So for now at least, I'll wait for Kellogg's stock to go on sale.

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Kraft is a Motley Fool Income Investor recommendation. Join Mathew Emmert as he looks for companies that pay generous dividends.

Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).