Casey's Q3 Inside Sales Grow
Fiscal year third quarter sales at Casey’s General Stores were flat, but the convenience store chain reported gains in inside sales as well as fuel.
For the three months ended January 31, total revenue was $3.329 billion, down slightly from revenue of $3.332 billion in the comparable quarter the previous year. Net income was $86.9 million, down from net income of $100.1 million in the same quarter the prior year. Diluted earnings per share was $2.33 down from diluted EPS of $2.67 in the year ago quarter.
Total inside sales were up 9.5% for the quarter driven by strong performance in the prepared food and dispensed beverage category, including whole pizza pies, hot sandwiches, and dispensed beverages as well as non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages in the grocery and general merchandise category. Inside margin was up 70 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 modest retail price adjustments.
For the quarter, total fuel gallons sold increased 6.9% compared to the prior year primarily due to the store count increase, while same-store gallons were nearly flat versus the prior year. Casey’s total fuel gross profit was down 2.0% versus the prior year.
"Casey's delivered another solid quarter highlighted by inside gross profit growth,” said Darren Rebelez, chairman, president and CEO of Casey’s. “Inside same-store sales were driven by prepared food and dispensed beverages, with whole pies and hot sandwiches performing exceptionally well. The operations team performed exceptionally well this quarter integrating multiple acquisitions, reducing same-store labor hours while growing sales and driving positive guest satisfaction scores."
Looking ahead, the company is reaffirming its annual outlook. Same-store inside sales are expected to increase 3.5% to 5% and the company expects inside margin improvement to approximately 40% to 41%. The company expects same-store fuel gallons sold to be between negative 1% to positive 1%. During fiscal year 2024, Casey’s is anticipating adding at least 150 stores.