Casey's General Stores, Inc.

Fiscal Q4 2026 diluted EPS was $4.37, up 66% year over year. Q4 net income was $162.7 million, up 65.5%, and EBITDA was $350.3 million, up 33.2%. Total inside sales rose 7.4% to over $1.5 billion, with inside gross profit dollars up $61 million, or 10.5%. Same-store prepared food and dispensed beverage sales rose 6.6% with a 59.5% average margin, while same-store grocery and general merchandise sales rose 5.1% with a 35.7% average margin. Same-store fuel gallons sold rose 1.5%, and fuel margin was $0.469 per gallon in the quarter. For the full fiscal year, diluted EPS was $19.16, net income was $714 million, and EBITDA was nearly $1.5 billion, all records for the company; inside margin expanded 70 basis points to 42.2%. Free cash flow was $207 million in Q4 and $722 million for the year, and total available liquidity was $1.4 billion with debt-to-EBITDA at 1.5x. FY27 guidance calls for inside same-store sales up 2% to 5%, inside margin above 42%, same-store fuel gallons between negative 1% and positive 1%, operating expenses up 5% to 7%, EBITDA up 8% to 10%, at least 120 new stores, net interest expense of about $95 million, D&A of about $490 million, PP&E spend of about $800 million, and a tax rate of 24% to 26%. Management said the FY27 EBITDA model uses a mid-$0.40s-per-gallon fuel margin, but it is not formally guiding EPS or fuel margin.

Darren Rebelez said Casey’s completed its three-year strategic plan and believes the company is stronger across food, unit growth, and efficiency. He highlighted record sales and profits, a broadened prepared food platform, continued growth in wings, and a large pipeline for expansion into Texas, Florida, and other newer markets. His tone was confident and celebratory, but still framed around execution and long-term development rather than near-term hype.

Steve Bramlage focused on the underlying drivers of the quarter and the balance sheet. He cited Q4 operating expenses up 10.1%, with roughly 2% from 40 more stores, 1.5% from labor rates, about 1% from credit card fees, and roughly 4% from incentive comp and charitable giving; he also noted net interest expense of $21.7 million, depreciation of $115.5 million, and tax rate of 23.7%. He emphasized strong liquidity of $1.4 billion, leverage of 1.5x debt-to-EBITDA, $207 million of Q4 free cash flow, $722 million for the year, a 12.7% ROIC, a 14% dividend increase to $0.65 per share, about $63 million of Q4 buybacks, and a newly expanded $1 billion repurchase authorization with roughly $200 million expected in FY27.

Analysts pressed on whether fuel margin dynamics have structurally changed, and management said the quarter benefited from volatility and choppy wholesale pricing rather than a permanent break in the relationship. Questions also focused on the durability of strong prepared food and grocery margins; management said grocery has structural tailwinds from nicotine mix shift, energy drinks, and liquor assortment, while prepared food is more commodity-sensitive but still has room for waste reduction and menu mix gains. On wings, management said the category is still early but is showing incrementality, including a 30% increase in prepared food frequency when wings are ordered standalone, and they said it could ultimately become as large as pizza over time.