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 six months ended October 31, 2023.

Second Quarter Key Highlights

• Diluted EPS of $4.24, up 16% from the same period a year ago. Net income was $159 million, up 15%, and EBITDA¹ was $306 million, up 13%, from the same period a year ago.
• Inside same-store sales increased 2.9% compared to prior year, and 11.0% on a two-year stack basis, with an inside margin of 41.1%. Total inside gross profit increased 9.7% to $553.3 million compared to the prior year.
• Same-store fuel gallons were flat (0.0%) compared to prior year with a fuel margin of 42.3 cents per gallon. Total fuel gross profit increased 8.6% to $308.8 million compared to the prior year.
• Same-store operating expenses excluding credit card fees were up 2.1%, favorably impacted by a 2% reduction in same-store labor hours.
• Casey's built or acquired 59 stores in the quarter and recently entered Texas, its 17th state, with a 22-store acquisition that closed in November.

"Due to the hard work of our team, Casey's delivered an outstanding second quarter highlighted by strong inside and fuel gross profit growth,” said Darren Rebelez, Chairman, President and CEO. “Inside same-store sales were driven by prepared food and dispensed beverage, with whole pies and bakery performing exceptionally well. Our fuel team continues to do an excellent job finding the right balance between gallon growth and gross profit margin, as evidenced by another strong fuel margin quarter while same-store gallons were flat. The team continued to effectively manage the stores by reducing same-store labor hours while growing the business at the same time.”

Earnings

For the quarter, net income, diluted EPS, and EBITDA were up compared to the same period a year ago primarily due to higher profitability inside the store and higher fuel margin partially offset by higher operating expenses due to operating 129 additional stores.

Inside

Total inside sales were up 6.2% for the quarter driven by strong performance in the prepared food and dispensed beverage category, including whole pizza pies, bakery, and dispensed beverages as well as non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages in the grocery and general merchandise category. Inside margin was up 130 basis points compared to the same quarter a year ago, primarily due to softening of prepared food and dispensed beverage ingredient costs as well as increased sales of private label products.

Fuel²

For the quarter, total fuel gallons sold increased 4.0% compared to the prior year primarily due to the store count increase, while same-store gallons were flat versus the prior year. The Company’s total fuel gross profit was up 8.6% versus the prior year. The Company sold $8.4 million in renewable fuel credits (RINs) in the second quarter, a decrease of $2.7 million from the same quarter in the prior year.

Operating Expenses

Operating expenses increased 7.5% during the second quarter. Over 3% of the increase is due to operating 129 more stores than prior year. Total same-store employee expense contributed to 1% of the increase, as the increase in labor rate was partially offset by a reduction in same-store labor hours. The Company also incurred higher variable incentive compensation, repair, maintenance, and insurance expense that composed 2% of the increase.

Expansion

Liquidity

At October 31, 2023, the Company had approximately $1.3 billion in available liquidity, consisting of approximately $410 million in cash and cash equivalents on hand and $900 million in available borrowing capacity on existing lines of credit.

Share Repurchase

During the second quarter, the Company repurchased approximately $30 million of shares. The Company has approximately $340 million remaining under its existing share repurchase authorization.

Dividend

At its December meeting, the Board of Directors approved a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share. The dividend is payable February 15, 2024, to shareholders of record on February 1, 2024.

Fiscal 2024 Outlook

As a result of the strong financial performance and unit growth year-to-date, fiscal 2024 EBITDA growth is expected to be in-line with the long-term strategic plan's goal of 8% to 10%. The Company also expects to repurchase at least $100 million in shares throughout the fiscal year. Same-store inside sales are expected to increase 3.5% to 5%. Net interest expense is expected to be approximately $53 million. The tax rate is now expected to be approximately 23% to 25% for the year.

As discussed in the first quarter, the Company now expects to add at least 150 stores in fiscal 2024, more than the originally planned 110. As a result of this, total operating expenses are now expected to increase approximately 6% to 8%, though same-store operating expenses excluding credit card fees are expected to only increase approximately 3% for the year. Depreciation and amortization is now expected to be approximately $350 million for the year.

The Company is not updating its outlook for the following metrics. We expect inside margin improvement to approximately 40% to 41%. The Company expects same-store fuel gallons sold to be between negative 1% to positive 1%. The purchase of property and equipment is expected to be $500 to $550 million.

RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO EBITDA AND ADJUSTED EBITDA

We define EBITDA as net income before net interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA further adjusts EBITDA by excluding the gain or loss on disposal of assets as well as impairment charges. Neither EBITDA nor Adjusted EBITDA are considered GAAP measures, and should not be considered as a substitute for net income, cash flows from operating activities or other income or cash flow statement data. These measures have limitations as analytical tools, and should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes 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 and Adjusted EBITDA are useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance because securities analysts and other interested parties use such calculations as a measure of financial performance and debt service capabilities, and they are regularly used by the Company 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 and Adjusted 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 these non-GAAP financial measures with those used by other companies.

The following table contains a reconciliation of net income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the three and six months ended October 31, 2023 and 2022:

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 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, 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 December 11, 2023. The call will be broadcast live over the Internet at 7:30 a.m. CST. To access the call, go to the Events and Presentations section of our website at https://investor.caseys.com/events-and-presentations/default.aspx. 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-and-presentations/default.aspx for one year after the call.

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