Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) reported much weaker-than-expected profit for the second quarter, urging its shares to decline 5.2% in pre-market trading.
Second-quarter earnings per share were 35 cents, missing the estimated 73 cents and significantly lower than the $4.07 from the previous year.
Net sales declined by 35% year-over-year to $523.2 million, slightly exceeding the estimated $513.25 million.
Despite the drop in sales revenue, the company notes a slight improvement in sales volumes, with 288.2 million dozens eggs sold, up 1.4% from the previous year.
However, the net average selling price per dozen experienced a substantial decrease of 36% YoY, reaching $1.730.
The company attributed the decline in sales revenue to a significant decrease in the net average selling price for conventional eggs.
For this quarter, Cal-Maine Foods plans to pay a cash dividend of approximately $0.116 per share.
Goldman Sachs analysts maintained a Sell rating on CALM stock, but raised the price target by $2 to $42 per share.
“Looking ahead, egg markets are caught between downward seasonal pressure and still-limited promotional activity and recent pickup of HPAI presenting additional supply uncertainty,” analysts said.
“We still believe that investors should remain cautious in over-capitalizing excess profits from high prices caused by supply shortfalls from HPAI, who's future spread/transmission remains uncertain.”