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Shares of Cal-Maine Foods Inc. slid after hours on Wednesday after the egg-production giant reported quarterly earnings and sales that missed expectations, with a drop in egg prices weighing on the results.
The company reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $16.6 million, or 35 cents a share, compared with $198.3 million, or $4.07 a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue fell to $523.2 million from $801.7 million in the prior-year quarter.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected Cal-Maine
CALM,
to earn 83 cents a share, on revenue of $525 million.
“Our sales reflect a different market environment from a year ago, with significantly lower average selling prices,” Chief Executive Sherman Miller said in a statement.
“However, our total volumes sold were up slightly over a year ago, as consumer demand for shell eggs continued to be favorable in the quarter, especially leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday,” he said.
Shares lost 5.7% after hours on Wednesday. The stock has fallen 4.2% over the past 12 months.
The company reported after a spike in food prices in 2022 that has gnawed at shoppers ever since. The report also comes after the holiday baking season and a massive avian flu outbreak in 2022 that killed large portions of the hen population and led to a jump in egg prices.
In November, egg prices were down 22.3% when compared to where they stood in the prior year, but they still rose 2.2% from October to November, according to government data released last month.
Last month, Cal-Maine said that one its facilities in Kansas tested positive for avian flu. Production at that facility was temporarily halted, the company said, adding that it was “working to secure production from other facilities to minimize disruption to its customers.”
In November, Cal-Maine said that a jury found the company and others were on the hook for what it said was “alleged conspiracy” to raise prices of egg products from 1998 to 2008. On Dec. 1, the jury awarded the plaintiffs around $17.8 million in damages.
Cal-Maine said the decision was not final, but that it was “disappointed with the verdict as Cal-Maine Foods continues to believe that the company did nothing wrong.”
Last month, Cal-Maine said it agreed to buy a broiler processing plant, hatchery and feed mill in Dexter, Mo., that were recently shuttered by Tyson Foods Inc.
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