CASY Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Inside Sales Rise Y/Y, FY26 View Up

Casey's General Stores, Inc. CASY reported second-quarter fiscal 2026 results, wherein the top line lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate and the bottom line missed the same. Both metrics increased year over year.The company delivered a strong fiscal second quarter, highlighted by solid sales and traffic growth across the entire store. Inside same-store sales maintained significant momentum, as the company’s prepared foods offering and value proposition continued to resonate with guests. On the fuel side, the company achieved same-store gallon growth while expanding fuel margin. As a result, Casey's updated its fiscal 2026 outlook.Casey's General Stores, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise  Casey's General Stores, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Casey's General Stores, Inc. QuoteCasey's Quarterly Performance: Key InsightsCASY, one of the leading convenience store chains in the United States, posted quarterly earnings of $5.53 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.92. This represents a 14% increase from $4.85 in the prior-year quarter. The company reported total revenues of $4,506.1 million, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,553 million. The metric increased 14.2% from $3,946.8 million in the year-ago period.Total inside sales jumped 13% year over year to $1.66 billion in the quarter. Inside same-store sales increased 3.3% compared with a 4% rise in the year-ago period. This growth was driven by the strong performance in the prepared food and dispensed beverage segment, including whole pizzas and hot sandwiches, as well as robust sales of non-alcoholic beverages in the grocery and general merchandise category. We expected inside same-store sales to grow 3.1% in the quarter under review.Insight Into CASY’s Margins & Expenses PerformanceGross profit rose to $1.12 billion, up 17% year over year. The gross margin expanded 60 basis points to 24.9%.The total inside gross profit increased 13.5% year over year to $703.4 million. Meanwhile, the inside margin was 42.4%, up about 20 basis points from the prior-year period, driven by a more favorable product mix.EBITDA increased 17.5% year over year to $410.1 million in the quarter under discussion, driven by higher inside and fuel gross profit. This was partially offset by increased operating expenses, mainly from operating additional stores. The EBITDA margin also expanded 30 basis points (bps) year over year to 9.1%.The company witnessed a rise of 16.7% in operating expenses to $711.6 million. This increase was primarily due to operating 236 additional stores compared with the prior-year period, which accounted for 10.5% of the rise. Same-store employee expenses accounted for roughly 2% of the increase, driven by higher labor rates, while same-store labor hours remained unchanged. Nearly 1% of the increase was due to higher accrued variable incentive compensation tied to strong financial performance. We estimated a 15.5% increase in operating expenses.Decoding CASY’s Segmental PerformancePrepared Food & Dispensed Beverage sales rose 12% year over year to $467.8 million, lagging our estimate of $469.4 million. Same-store sales increased 4.8% compared with 5.2% in the year-ago quarter. The Prepared Food & Dispensed Beverage margin declined 10 bps to 58.6% from 58.7% in the prior-year period.Grocery & General Merchandise sales increased 13.4% to $1.19 billion in the quarter, surpassing our estimate of $1.18 billion. Same-store sales advanced 2.7% compared with 3.6% in the year-ago quarter. The Grocery & General Merchandise margin expanded 40 bps to 36% from 35.6% in the prior-year period.We note that Fuel sales increased 11.3% year over year to $2.69 billion in the quarter, lagging our estimate of $2.80 billion. Fuel gallons sold jumped 16.8% to 906.7 million, benefiting from operating more stores and a 0.8% rise in same-store gallons. We anticipated an increase of 20.4% in fuel gallons sold. The fuel margin improved slightly to 41.6 cents per gallon from 40.2 cents in the prior-year period.CASY’s Financial Snapshot: Cash, Debt & Equity OverviewCasey's, which operated 2,921 stores as of Oct. 31, 2025, ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $492 million, long-term debt and finance lease obligations (net of current maturities) of $2.35 billion, and shareholders’ equity of $3.81 billion.In the quarter, the company repurchased approximately $31 million of shares and has around $233 million remaining under its current buyback authorization.In December 2025, the management declared a quarterly dividend of 57 cents per share, payable on Feb. 13, 2026, to its shareholders of record as of Feb. 1. This continues the company’s long-standing track record of dividend payments.Sneak Peek Into CASY’s OutlookFor fiscal 2026, management expects EBITDA growth of 15-17% as compared with the previously mentioned 10-12%. Notably, the company reported 13.3% in fiscal 2025. It anticipates total operating expenses to increase 8-10%. The purchase of property and equipment is expected to be $600 million.Casey's expects inside same-store sales to increase 3-4% compared with the prior mentioned 2-5% growth. The Inside margin is expected to be 41-42% compared with the prior stated 41%. The Inside margin was 41.5% in fiscal 2025. Management foresees same-store fuel gallons sold between negative 1% and positive 1%. The company anticipates opening 80 stores in fiscal 2026, through a mix of M&A and store construction, bringing the three-year total to 500 stores.CASY Stock's Past 3-Month Performance Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have risen 1.7% in the past three months compared with the industry’s 1.8% growth.Stocks to ConsiderDillard's Inc. DDS is a large departmental store chain featuring fashion apparel and home furnishings, and it currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Dillard's current financial-year sales and earnings implies growth of 1.3% and a decline of 10%, respectively, from the year-ago reported numbers. DDS delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 26.5%, on average.Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. BOOT operates as a lifestyle retail chain devoted to western and work-related footwear, apparel and accessories. It currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Boot Barn’s fiscal 2026 earnings and sales suggests growth of 20.5% and 16.2%, respectively, from the year-ago actuals. Boot Barn delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 5.4%.Allbirds Inc. BIRD is a lifestyle brand with naturally derived materials to make footwear and apparel products. It carries a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Allbirds’ current financial-year sales and earnings indicates a decline of 15.1% and growth of 19.9%, respectively, from the year-ago actuals. BIRD delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 18.5%.Zacks Naming Top 10 Stocks for 2026Want to be tipped off early to our 10 top picks for the entirety of 2026? History suggests their performance could be sensational.From 2012 (when our Director of Research Sheraz Mian assumed responsibility for the portfolio) through November, 2025, the Zacks Top 10 Stocks gained +2,530.8%, more than QUADRUPLING the S&P 500’s +570.3%.Now Sheraz is combing through 4,400 companies to handpick the best 10 tickers to buy and hold in 2026. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these stocks when they’re released on January 5. Be First to New Top 10 Stocks >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Dillard's, Inc. (DDS): Free Stock Analysis Report Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. (BOOT): Free Stock Analysis Report Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY): Free Stock Analysis Report Allbirds, Inc. (BIRD): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks