Cal-Maine Foods vs Flowers Foods
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The short version
- Flowers Foods is the larger business, with $5.3B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $2.9B for Cal-Maine Foods, about 1.8 times as much.
- Flowers Foods grew revenue faster (3.0%, against −31.7%).
- Cal-Maine Foods kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (12.0% operating margin, against 3.3%).
- Cal-Maine Foods turned more of its sales into free cash flow (11.3% FCF margin, against 6.1%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Cal-Maine Foods’s earnings: a P/E of 51.3x against 22.8x for Flowers Foods.
| Latest fiscal year | CALM · FY26 | FLO · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $2.9B | $1.3B |
| Revenue | $2.9B | $5.3B |
| Free cash flow | $329M | $319M |
| Net income | $317M | $83.8M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −31.7% | 3.0% |
| 5-year growth | 16.6% | 3.7% |
| Share count change | −2.3% | −0.0% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 23.1% | — |
| Operating margin | 12.0% | 3.3% |
| Net margin | 10.9% | 1.6% |
| FCF margin | 11.3% | 6.1% |
| Return on capital | — | 4.6% |
| Return on equity | 12.2% | 6.2% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | — | $1.7B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | — | 5.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $232M | $215M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 51.3x | 22.8x |
| Piotroski F-score | — | 5 |
Revenue
FY17
CALM $1.1B
FLO $3.9B
FY18
CALM $1.5B
FLO $4.0B
FY19
CALM $1.4B
FLO $4.1B
FY20
CALM $1.4B
FLO $4.4B
FY21
CALM $1.3B
FLO $4.3B
FY22
CALM $1.8B
FLO $4.8B
FY23
CALM $3.1B
FLO $5.1B
FY24
CALM $2.3B
FLO $5.1B
FY25
CALM $4.3B
FLO $5.3B
FY26
CALM $2.9B
FLO —
CALM
FLO
Operating margin
FY17
CALM −12.5%
FLO 4.1%
FY18
CALM 6.7%
FLO 5.4%
FY19
CALM 3.4%
FLO 5.5%
FY20
CALM 0.1%
FLO 7.3%
FY21
CALM −2.0%
FLO 6.8%
FY22
CALM 8.1%
FLO 6.3%
FY23
CALM 30.8%
FLO 3.4%
FY24
CALM 13.4%
FLO 6.8%
FY25
CALM 36.1%
FLO 3.3%
FY26
CALM 12.0%
FLO —
CALM
FLO
Free cash flow
FY17
CALM −$113M
FLO $222M
FY18
CALM $181M
FLO $196M
FY19
CALM $47.1M
FLO $263M
FY20
CALM −$50.6M
FLO $357M
FY21
CALM −$68.9M
FLO $209M
FY22
CALM $53.8M
FLO $192M
FY23
CALM $726M
FLO $220M
FY24
CALM $304M
FLO $281M
FY25
CALM $1.1B
FLO $319M
FY26
CALM $329M
FLO —
CALM
FLO
Return on capital
FY17
CALM −12.1%
FLO 7.9%
FY18
CALM 11.5%
FLO 7.9%
FY19
CALM 3.9%
FLO 8.0%
FY20
CALM —
FLO 11.7%
FY21
CALM —
FLO 10.8%
FY22
CALM —
FLO 10.8%
FY23
CALM —
FLO 6.0%
FY24
CALM —
FLO 10.9%
FY25
CALM —
FLO 4.6%
FY26
CALM —
FLO —
CALM
FLO
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.