Cal-Maine Foods is not a household name, although its products are found in millions of kitchens each morning. The Mississippi-based company is the United States’ largest egg producer, accounting for roughly a fifth of all domestic shell egg consumption. Its flock numbers are staggering: more than 48 million layers (egg-laying hens) and 11.5 million pullets (young hens not laying eggs currently but will do so in near future) and breeders (these birds hatch chicks for future pullets and layers), at the end of fiscal 2025.
In an industry where fortunes rise and fall with supply shocks and feed costs, Cal-Maine has just posted a blockbuster year. But the company is also trying to prove that it can become more than a cyclical commodity player, moving into specialty eggs and prepared foods to capture steadier, higher-margin growth. Whether that shift succeeds will define its investment case over the next decade.
