A Look At Casey's General Stores Earnings

On a light earnings day, Casey's General Stores Inc CASY stood out as a somewhat notable release. Despite a top-line beat at $1.58 billion vs. estimated $1.5 billion, EPS missed by $0.03 at $1.19 vs. $1.22 estimated by the Street. Shares fell 1.83 percent after-hours on the report to $121 share.

Although the report was slightly disappointing, Casey's increased its quarter dividend from $0.22 to $0.24 per share. Casey's CEO Terry Handley also announced some expansion plans for FY17, "We have dedicated more resources to our store development area over the past year. As a result, we currently have a robust pipeline of projects with 21 stores under construction and an additional 75 sites under contract for future new store construction, including numerous sites in Ohio."

He added, "With our new distribution center in Terre Haute, we can efficiently build or acquire in a considerably larger geographical footprint."

The corporations management goals to watch for are:

1. Increase same-store fuel gallons sold 2 percent with an average margin of 18.4 cents per gallon
2. Increase same-store grocery and other merchandise sales 6.2 percent with an average margin of 32 percent
3. Increase same-store prepared food and fountain sales 10.2 percent with an average margin of 62.5 percent
4. Build or acquire 77 to 116 stores, replace 35 existing locations, and complete 100 major remodels