An Idaho company was the biggest loser on Wall Street on Friday. This is why
Lamb Weston’s stock price sank more than any other company’s in the S&P 500 on Friday.
The Eagle-based potato manufacturer saw its shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, tumble nearly 26% after company executives warned that earnings in fiscal year 2026 would likely come in lower than previously projected.
In its latest quarter, the company posted a profit of $62.1 million, or 44 cents per share, compared with a loss of $36.1 million, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier, according to its earnings release. Lamb Weston also had a small increase in sales — volume was up 8% — but that was offset by an 8% decline in price.
Lamb Weston is the largest producer of french fries in North America and is a major supplier to restaurants, grocery stores and fast-food chains, including McDonald’s.
But pricing dynamics, combined with a supply surplus in Europe, costs to open a new manufacturing plant in Argentina, and weak restaurant traffic — that is, people buying fewer french fries — dropped the company’s full-year forecast for revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, known as Ebitda, below Wall Street’s expectations.
That’s despite the company beating some quarterly estimates.
Shares closed at $43.94 on Friday, down from $59.33 on Thursday, leading the company to notch the worst-performing spot on the S&P 500. The price dipped even further Monday to $42.79 per share.
The S&P 500, established in 1957 by Standard & Poor’s, a financial services company, is a major U.S. stock market index tracking the performance of the 500 largest publicly traded companies. Micron, headquartered in Southeast Boise, is also on the index.
Lamb Weston is now trading at about 44% below its price of $67 a year ago in December 2024. An investor who bought $1,000 worth of the company’s shares then would now have an investment worth $638.66.
The company said in its earnings release that it remains on track to achieve its target of $100 million in cost savings in fiscal year 2026. In addition, the board approved a 3% increase to its quarterly dividend, which has increased every year since Lamb Weston went public.
Lamb Weston has been struggling over the last few years. In July, the company announced that it would lay off hundreds of employees, slashing its global workforce by 4% as part of its cost-savings plan. The news followed a move by one of its largest shareholders to shake up the company.
That shareholder, Jana Partners, built a stake of over 5% in the company last year before forcing the CEO to step aside over what it called “disastrous financial results.”
Lamb Weston employs over 1,000 people in Idaho, according to the Idaho Department of Labor.
Its headquarters are near the intersection of Eagle Road and State Street in Eagle. The company has two plants in Idaho, in Twin Falls and American Falls, that are supplied by the region’s potato farmers. It also has corporate offices, research facilities and more than a dozen potato-processing factories in Washington state, where it employs about 3,000 people.
The company is reopening production lines in North America that it had previously curtailed, including its plant in American Falls, Idaho, to keep up with demand, a spokesperson told the Idaho Statesman on Monday. It plans to hire over 100 workers in the American Falls area to support those efforts, and is participating in a hiring fair in Pocatello on Jan. 7, the spokesperson said.
“From a headcount perspective, we remain essentially flat year-over-year in Idaho,” the spokesperson said.
This story was originally published December 23, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
