CASY

Casey's is firing on every operational cylinder. FY2026 revenue grew 10.2% to $17.6B and net income jumped 30.7% to $714M, lifting diluted EPS 30.9% to $19.16 — capping a three-year plan where management built or acquired 504 stores against a 350 goal and compounded EPS at 17.2% annually. The balance sheet is sturdy: $3.95B equity against $2.43B total debt (long-term debt actually fell 3.5%), liabilities/equity of just 1.26x, an 18.1% ROE, and operating cash flow of $1.38B that comfortably funds $656M of growth capex while still returning ~$284M via buybacks and dividends. The 10-million-member Rewards program and 2,944-store footprint (71% in towns under 20,000 people) give it a defensible niche the coasts-focused competition ignores.

The catch is two-fold. First, durability of the headline growth: management discloses that $1.03B of the $1.62B revenue increase — roughly two-thirds — came from the Fikes/CEFCO acquisition lapping its first six months. Strip that out and the real engine is solid-but-ordinary: prepared-food same-store sales +5.2% and grocery SSS +3.9%, plus organic unit growth. Second, the business is structurally thin-margin (12.2% gross, 4.1% net) and still leans on retail fuel, which is volatile and faces a slow but real long-term EV headwind — the filing notes only 282 chargers at 64 stores and admits Midwest EV demand lags the coasts.