Cal-Maine swings to $35.9M quarterly loss as egg prices hit historic lows

CEO says supply-demand balance is improving heading into fall

Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the United States, swung to a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $35.9 million as sales fell 50%, dragged down by historically low egg prices that followed the avian influenza-driven spike last year.

The Ridgeland, Miss.-based company on July 22 posted a loss of $35.9 million compared with a profit of $342.5 million in the same quarter of fiscal 2025. On a per-share basis, the loss came to 76 cents, missing analyst expectations for earnings of 8 cents, according to FactSet. Sales dropped to $552.6 million, below Wall Street models for $563.8 million.

Chief Executive Sherman Miller said the quarter was “particularly challenging,” as oversupply pushed egg prices to what he described as “historically low inflation-adjusted levels.” The average selling price per dozen of conventional eggs fell more than 70% during the period.

“This dynamic was largely supply-driven rather than demand-driven, and we continue to see favorable long-term demand fundamentals across our end markets,” Miller said. He added that the challenging quarter reinforced the importance of the company’s ongoing effort to diversify its sales mix.

The results follow a period of sharp price swings in the egg market. MSI previously reported that retail egg prices had fallen about 60% from their 2025 highs heading into Easter and Passover as the bird flu crisis receded and producers rebuilt laying flocks. At their peak in spring 2025, bird flu-related poultry losses drove retail prices above $6 per dozen. Prices have since fallen to roughly $2 per dozen.

Conventional egg sales at Cal-Maine decreased 71% in the quarter, hurt by substantially lower pricing, according to the company. Sales of specialty eggs — which include free-range, pasture-raised, and other premium varieties — were down 17%, also hurt by lower selling prices and lower sales volumes.

The company said it is continuing work to grow its prepared foods unit, adding capacity and improving utilization rates as part of a longer-term push into higher-margin processed egg products.

Miller said Cal-Maine is well positioned as market conditions shift. “Early indications point to improving supply-demand balance, supporting a more constructive egg pricing environment heading into the fall, which is historically a seasonally stronger period,” he said.

The results come weeks after Cal-Maine and two other major egg producers — Hickman’s Egg Ranch and Versova — agreed in late June to settle antitrust claims brought by the Department of Justice and 17 state attorneys general, who alleged the companies coordinated bids to inflate a wholesale egg benchmark price between 2022 and 2025. Under that settlement, which requires court approval, the three companies agreed to donate more than 50 million eggs to food banks and pay $3.3 million to states.