Shares of Cal-Maine Foods Inc. tumbled 10.5% in premarket trading Monday, after the egg producer swung to a surprise loss and sales fell more than expected, citing lower average selling prices and weakness in the Southeast market.
The net loss for the quarter to Nov. 30 was $10.1 million, or 21 cents a share, after a profit of $21.8 million, or 45 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus was for earnings per share of 3 cents. Sales fell 12.5% to $311.5 million, below the FactSet consensus of $324.1 million. Average sales price fell 11.5%, due to an “unfavorable balance of egg supply and demand, as hen numbers reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture increased by 4.6 million to 340.5 million.
The Southeast large market average price for conventional eggs dropped 12.7%. Average selling prices of specialty eggs fell 4.1%; sales of specialty eggs represented 36.0% of total sales, compared with 35.0% a year ago.
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