Egg company Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ: CALM) fell short of the markets revenue expectations in Q4 CY2025, with sales falling 19.4% year on year to $769.5 million. Its GAAP profit of $2.13 per share was 9.9% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy Cal-Maine? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free for active Edge members.

“Despite the impact of eggs prices, we believe our performance in the second quarter and first half of the fiscal year demonstrates strength and momentum. We delivered solid results compared to a prior year marked by supply-demand imbalances and historic price levels. With lower egg prices, our increasingly diversified business model, paired with disciplined execution, proved to be a source of resilience. In our view, this positions us as a rare combination of value and growth—an advantage poised to strengthen over time,” said Sherman Miller, president and chief executive officer of Cal-Maine Foods.

Company Overview

Known for brands such as Egg-Land’s Best and Land O’ Lakes, Cal-Maine (NASDAQ: CALM) produces, packages, and distributes eggs.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years.

With $4.21 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Cal-Maine carries some recognizable products but is a mid-sized consumer staples company. Its size could bring disadvantages compared to larger competitors benefiting from better brand awareness and economies of scale. On the bright side, it can still flex high growth rates because it’s working from a smaller revenue base.

As you can see below, Cal-Maine’s 18.5% annualized revenue growth over the last three years was impressive. This is a great starting point for our analysis because it shows Cal-Maine’s demand was higher than many consumer staples companies.

This quarter, Cal-Maine missed Wall Street’s estimates and reported a rather uninspiring 19.4% year-on-year revenue decline, generating $769.5 million of revenue.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to decline by 28% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last three years. This projection is underwhelming and implies its products will see some demand headwinds. At least the company is tracking well in other measures of financial health.

Software is eating the world and there is virtually no industry left that has been untouched by it. That drives increasing demand for tools helping software developers do their jobs, whether it be monitoring critical cloud infrastructure, integrating audio and video functionality, or ensuring smooth content streaming. Click here to access a free report on our 3 favorite stocks to play this generational megatrend.

Cash Is King

If you’ve followed StockStory for a while, you know we emphasize free cash flow. Why, you ask? We believe that in the end, cash is king, and you can’t use accounting profits to pay the bills.

Cal-Maine has shown terrific cash profitability, driven by its lucrative business model that enables it to reinvest, return capital to investors, and stay ahead of the competition. The company’s free cash flow margin was among the best in the consumer staples sector, averaging 24.4% over the last two years.

Key Takeaways from Cal-Maine’s Q4 Results

We were impressed by how significantly Cal-Maine blew past analysts’ gross margin expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EPS outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its revenue missed. Overall, this quarter was mixed. Still, the stock traded up 1.8% to $80.47 immediately following the results.

Is Cal-Maine an attractive investment opportunity right now? What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free for active Edge members.