Cal-Maine四季度因鸡蛋价格暴跌转亏，销售额腰斩

Shares of Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) are on the defensive Wednesday morning as significant declines in shell egg prices weighed on fiscal fourth-quarter profits and drove the company into the red.
“During the quarter, industry oversupply drove wholesale shell egg prices to historically low inflation-adjusted levels. This dynamic was largely supply-driven rather than demand-driven, and we continue to see favorable long-term demand fundamentals across our end markets,” said Cal-Maine CEO Sherman Miller, adding that fiscal 2026 ended in a “particularly challenging quarter” and reinforced the importance of diversification, enabling the company to expand its portfolio of products that can better adjust to market-based pricing.
To achieve this, the largest egg producer in the U.S. is expanding further into prepared foods, which now accounts for 11% of total sales. This is expected to strengthen Cal-Maine’s future “earnings durability and predictability” and help blunt the selling pressure on shares this morning.
For the fourth quarter, however, the company’s performance reflected an egg pricing environment that deteriorated through the year after previous market conditions—which saw an explosive surge in egg prices—created an oversupply of eggs that pressured prices and drove Cal-Maine’s (CALM) net income to a loss of $0.76 per share versus a profit of $7.01 in the same quarter last year. Net sales were cut in half to $552M, missing expectations by $11.25M.
The collapse in egg prices hit conventional shell eggs hardest, with prices falling 71% versus a 16.5% decline for specialty eggs. As a result, fourth-quarter operating margins fell to negative 19.3% for conventional shell eggs and 7.3% for specialty eggs, representing a compression of 7,210 and 2,130 basis points, respectively.
Looking ahead to the current fiscal year, Miller highlighted the company’s aggressive expansion efforts, including a $54M additional investment in prepared foods that is expected to add approximately 30% incremental production beginning in the first half of fiscal 2028.
Additionally, industry data indicates market prices for eggs have strengthened, increasing by more than 90% in the first few weeks of the fiscal year.
“Early indications point to an improving supply-demand balance, supporting a more constructive egg pricing environment heading into the fall, an historically seasonally stronger period,” Miller added.
Shares are down nearly 6% into the open, weighing on shares of Vital Farms (VITL).