Nation’s top egg producer reports 718% profit increase

A year ago, Cal-Maine Foods posted $39.5 million in quarterly profits. This time, $323 million. (Getty Images)

You already know that egg prices are at crazy high levels due to bird flu, which led to the culling of millions of hens.

But it won’t make it easy for you when I share that the nation’s top egg producer, Cal-Maine Foods, just reported a massive increase in quarterly earnings.

How massive? Try 718% higher.

What does that mean in dollars? A year ago, Cal-Maine posted $39.5 million in quarterly profits. This time, $323 million.

Sherman Miller, the company’s president and CEO, called the latest returns “a solid performance,” deserving of some sort of understatement award.

“Our results reflect a dynamic market environment with higher average sales prices and favorable demand,” he said in a statement.

If you feel this is a repeat of the record profits that oil companies reported amid high gas prices, you’re right.

And this is why some demand windfall profits taxes under such unusual external forces.

These are examples of companies that ride market trends higher without doing anything special or innovative to increase shareholder value.

They are just lucky.

And who pays? Consumers, of course, who watch helplessly as a huge wealth transfer takes place.

To be sure, there are booms in all markets, cycles of profits and setbacks.

But more than a 700% increase in profits over a three-month period? It’s just wrong.

“We have worked hard to respond to the challenging operating environment, targeting optimal management of all aspects of our business within our control,” Miller said.

That is undoubtedly true.

But think about it this way: If a slot machine is broken and continues to pay out, does that mean the user is a particularly shrewd and skilled gambler?

No. This means that the slot machine is broken.