Casey's Announces Third Quarter Results

Business Wire 11-Mar-2025 4:30 PM

Casey's General Stores, Inc. ("Casey's" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:CASY) one of the leading convenience store chains in the United States, today announced financial results for the three and nine months ended January 31, 2025.

Third Quarter Key Highlights

• Diluted EPS of $2.33, flat with the same period a year ago. Net income was $87.1 million, also flat with the prior year, and EBITDA¹ was $242.4 million, up 11.4%, from the same period a year ago.
• Inside same-store sales increased 3.7% compared to prior year, and 8.0% on a two-year stack basis, with an inside margin of 40.9%. Total inside gross profit increased 14.3% to $573.1 million compared to the prior year.
• Same-store fuel gallons were up 1.8% compared to prior year with a fuel margin of 36.4 cents per gallon. Total fuel gross profit increased 17.4% to $302.1 million compared to the prior year.
• Same-store operating expenses excluding credit card fees were up 3.2%, favorably impacted by a 2% reduction in same-store labor hours.

"Casey's delivered an excellent third quarter highlighted by strong sales growth both inside and outside the store," said Darren Rebelez, Chairman, President and CEO. "Inside same-store sales were driven by the prepared food and dispensed beverage category, with hot sandwiches and bakery performing quite well. Our fuel team did a tremendous job achieving same-store gallon growth of 1.8% while maintaining a solid fuel margin. Total fuel gallons sold were up 20.4% while total inside sales rose 15.3% primarily due to unit growth, including the Fikes acquisition. The operations team's focus on serving our guests efficiently is paying off, as we reduced same-store labor hours for the eleventh consecutive quarter."

Earnings

For the quarter, net income and diluted EPS were approximately flat while EBITDA was up compared to the same period a year ago. EBITDA was up primarily due to higher inside and fuel gross profit, partially offset by higher operating expenses from operating 254 additional stores, as well as one-time Fikes deal and integration costs of approximately $13 million. Net income and diluted EPS were flat due to higher interest expense related to debt taken on from the Fikes transaction as well as higher depreciation from operating more stores.

Inside

Total inside sales were up 15.3% for the quarter. Same-store inside sales of 3.7% were driven by strong performance in the prepared food and dispensed beverage category, including hot sandwiches and bakery as well as non-alcoholic beverages in the grocery and general merchandise category. Inside margin was down 40 basis points compared to the same quarter a year ago, driven primarily by the impact of the stores from the Fikes acquisition as well as a coffee promotion to feature new flavor profiles.

Fuel²

For the quarter, total fuel gallons sold increased 20.4% compared to the prior year due to the store count increase as well as same-store gallons which were up 1.8% versus the prior year. The Company's total fuel gross profit was up 17.4% versus the prior year, while the increase in gallons sold was partially offset by a decrease in fuel margin, driven primarily by the impact of the stores from the Fikes acquisition. The Company sold $2.6 million in renewable fuel credits (RINs) in the third quarter, a decrease of $0.8 million from the same quarter in the prior year.

Operating Expenses

Operating expenses increased approximately 18% during the third quarter. Operating 254 more stores than prior year accounted for approximately 14% of the increase, including one-time deal and integration costs of approximately $13 million from the Fikes acquisition. Same-store employee expense contributed to approximately 1% of the increase, as the increases in labor rates were partially offset by a reduction in same-store labor hours.

Expansion

Liquidity At January 31, 2025, the Company had approximately $1.3 billion in available liquidity, consisting of approximately $395 million in cash and cash equivalents on hand and approximately $900 million in available borrowing capacity on existing lines of credit.

Share Repurchase During the third quarter, the Company did not repurchase any shares. The Company has approximately $295 million remaining under its existing share repurchase authorization.

Dividend At its March meeting, the Board of Directors approved a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share. The dividend is payable May 15, 2025, to shareholders of record on May 1, 2025.

Fiscal 2025 Outlook Casey's is updating the 2025 outlook as follows: For fiscal year 2025, the Company now expects EBITDA to increase approximately 11%. The purchase of property and equipment is expected to be approximately $500 million.

Casey's is not updating its outlook for the following metrics: For Casey's total fiscal 2025 year outlook the Company expects same-store inside sales to increase approximately 3% to 5% with inside margin to be comparable to the prior year. The Company expects same-store fuel gallons sold to be negative 1% to positive 1%. The Company expects total operating expenses to increase 11% to 13% for the fiscal year, including approximately $25 to $30 million in one-time deal and integration costs related to the Fikes acquisition, while same-store operating expense excluding credit card fees are expected to only increase 2% for the year. Net interest expense is expected to be approximately $90 million for the year. Depreciation and amortization is expected to be approximately $410 million. The tax rate is expected to be approximately 23% to 25% for the fiscal year. Casey's expects to add approximately 270 stores for the fiscal year.

RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO EBITDA

We define EBITDA as net income before net interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. EBITDA is not considered to be a GAAP measure, and should not be considered as a substitute for net income, cash flows from operating activities or other income or cash flow statement data. This measure has limitations as an analytical tool, and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. We strongly encourage investors to review our financial statements and publicly filed reports in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure.

We believe EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance because securities analysts and other interested parties use this calculation as a measure of financial performance and debt service capabilities, and it is regularly used by management for internal purposes including our capital budgeting process, evaluating acquisition targets, assessing performance, and awarding incentive compensation.

Because non-GAAP financial measures are not standardized, EBITDA, as defined by us, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. It therefore may not be possible to compare our use of this non-GAAP financial measure with those used by other companies.

The following table contains a reconciliation of net income to EBITDA for the three and nine months ended January 31, 2025 and 2024:

NOTES:

• Gross Profit is defined as revenue less cost of goods sold (exclusive of depreciation and amortization)
• Inside is defined as the combination of grocery and general merchandise and prepared food and dispensed beverage

This release contains statements that may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those related to the potential impact the Fikes transaction, expectations for future periods, possible or assumed future results of operations, financial conditions, liquidity and related sources or needs, business and/or integration strategies, plans and synergies, supply chain, growth opportunities, and performance at our stores. There are a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from any results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the execution of our strategic plan, the integration and financial performance of acquired stores, wholesale fuel, inventory and ingredient costs, distribution challenges and disruptions, the impact and duration of the conflict in Ukraine or other geopolitical disruptions, as well as other risks, uncertainties and factors which are described in the Company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on our website. Any forward-looking statements contained in this release represent our current views as of the date of this release with respect to future events, and Casey's disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in the release whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Corporate information is available at this website: https://www.caseys.com. Earnings will be reported during a conference call on March 12, 2025. The call will be broadcast live over the Internet at 7:30 a.m. CDT. To access the call, go to the Events and Presentations section of our website at https://investor.caseys.com/events-presentations. No access code is required. A webcast replay of the call will remain available in an archived format on the Events and Presentations section of our website at https://investor.caseys.com/events-presentations for one year after the call.

CASY-IR

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250311631674/en/

Investor Relations: Brian Johnson (515) 446-6587

Media Relations: Katie Petru (515) 446-6772