Forensic Analysis · General / Diversified · as of Nov 8, 2026
Cal-Maine Foods Inc (CALM)
A forensic read on Cal-Maine Foods Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
12.5
Distress distance
4
Forensic signals
12.2%
ROE
-31.7%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Cal-Maine Foods Inc earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 12.5, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by inventory days.
What the filings flag
55d
FY2025→FY2026
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 42 to 55 FY2025→FY2026 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +27% vs -7% in cost of sales). Inventory is outrunning what's being sold — a flag for softening demand or obsolescence risk ahead.
+16.2%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +16.2% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. Net operating assets also rose $93.7M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by PP&E up +28% against revenue -32% and inventory up +27% against -7% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 7% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 16.2%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
10.7%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 10.7% in the latest fiscal year, against 13.9% in FY2024, having run between 10.7% and 58.4% across FY2024–FY2026 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $240M in FY2024 and $271M in FY2026, with operating income at 13.4% of revenue in FY2024, 36.1% in FY2025 and 12.0% in FY2026. The capital base behind it grew +48% across FY2024–FY2026, from $1.7B to $2.5B, while the return fell 3.2 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 13.9% the older base was already earning. $855M of the $2.5B base at FY2026 is short-term investments (33.7%) — securities held beside cash, which the base keeps because only cash is subtracted from it; they earn the balance sheet's yield, which is not in the operating profit above, so this rate understates what the operating capital earns.
-28%
FY2025→FY2026
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~28% in FY2026 (from FY2025). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$2.91B
Revenue Growth YoY-31.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+11.9%
Net Margin10.9%
Free Cash Flow$328.5M
Return on Equity12.2%
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Cal-Maine Foods Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?