Weak egg prices weigh on quarterly performance
Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, as lower wholesale egg prices and industry oversupply significantly reduced revenue and profitability.
The company posted a loss per share of -$0.76 for the quarter, well below analysts’ expectations of earnings of $0.11 per share. Following the earnings release, Cal-Maine shares fell 4.26% in premarket trading.
Quarterly revenue declined to $552.6 million, missing the consensus forecast of $657.09 million and falling 49.9% from $1.10 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Management said the disappointing performance reflected historically low inflation-adjusted wholesale shell egg prices caused by excess supply across the industry.
Sales decline across conventional and specialty eggs
Revenue weakened across the company’s core egg categories during the quarter.
Sales of Conventional Shell Eggs dropped 70% year over year to $210.8 million as the average selling price per dozen fell 70.9%.
Specialty Shell Egg revenue declined 21.4% to $239.7 million, reflecting a 5.9% decrease in sales volumes and a 16.5% reduction in average selling prices.
The company also reported an operating loss of $58.8 million, compared with operating income of $435.9 million in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
For the full 2026 fiscal year, Cal-Maine generated diluted earnings per share of $6.63 on revenue of $2.91 billion, down from $4.26 billion in fiscal 2025.
Expansion strategy continues despite challenging market conditions
President and Chief Executive Officer Sherman Miller said the difficult operating environment reinforced the company’s long-term strategic priorities.
“Fiscal 2026, culminating in a particularly challenging fourth quarter, reinforced the importance of our strategy to enhance the structural mix of our business, expand our portfolio of products that support more stable and predictable financial performance, and reposition our pricing structure by reducing the impact of market-based pricing.”
As part of that strategy, Cal-Maine expanded its Eggland’s Best franchise footprint by acquiring additional territory in the Northeastern United States, a move expected to increase Specialty Shell Egg sales volumes by roughly 5% annually.
The company also announced plans to invest $54 million to expand its Prepared Foods production capacity by approximately 30%, with the additional capacity expected to come online during the first half of fiscal 2028.
Share buybacks continue as dividend paused
During the quarter, Cal-Maine repurchased 396,083 shares for approximately $30.1 million.
The company also confirmed that it will not declare a fourth-quarter dividend under its variable dividend policy.
Cal-Maine Foods stock price
