BMO Capital Markets Has Lowered Expectations for Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) Stock Price

Key Points

• BMO Capital Markets cut its price target on Cal‑Maine Foods from $85 to $80 and kept a market perform rating, implying only about a 1.4% upside from the prior close.
• The sell‑side consensus is a Hold with a $93 average price target, while analysts are mixed—Stephens raised its target to $90, Benchmark remains a buy, and Weiss downgraded to hold.
• Cal‑Maine missed expectations for the quarter with $2.13 EPS vs. $2.17 est. and revenue of $769.5M vs. $828.5M est. (revenue down 19.4% Y/Y); the stock trades around $78.91, with a $3.76B market cap and a P/E of 3.33.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $85.00 to $80.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "market perform" rating on the basic materials company's stock. BMO Capital Markets' target price would indicate a potential upside of 1.38% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Stephens raised their price objective on Cal-Maine Foods from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.00.

Cal-Maine Foods Price Performance

NASDAQ:CALM traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $78.91. The stock had a trading volume of 256,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,218,799. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.26. Cal-Maine Foods has a 1-year low of $71.92 and a 1-year high of $126.40. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $83.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.30.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The basic materials company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.17 by ($0.04). Cal-Maine Foods had a return on equity of 44.55% and a net margin of 27.37%.The firm had revenue of $769.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $828.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.47 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cal-Maine Foods will post 15.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cal-Maine Foods

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CALM. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in Cal-Maine Foods by 1,085.8% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 259,445 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $24,414,000 after purchasing an additional 237,566 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 268,026 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $25,221,000 after buying an additional 16,251 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 1,274.2% during the 3rd quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 30,122 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,834,000 after buying an additional 27,930 shares during the period. CX Institutional purchased a new position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at $6,488,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 33,051 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,110,000 after acquiring an additional 9,805 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.67% of the company's stock.

Cal-Maine Foods Company Profile

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, grades, packages, markets, and distributes shell eggs. The company offers specialty shell eggs, such as nutritionally enhanced, cage free, organic, free-range, pasture-raised, and brown eggs under the Egg-Land's Best, Land O' Lakes, Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, and 4Grain brand names. It sells its products to various customers, including national and regional grocery store chains, club stores, independent supermarkets, foodservice distributors, and egg product consumers primarily in the southwestern, southeastern, mid-western, and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.

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