Casey’s General Stores Miss Q4 Estimates (CASY)
Convenience store chain, Casey’s General Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: CASY) said on Thursday that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose just 0.9% as higher expenses put pressure on margins.
Shares fell about 2% in aftermarket hours as fourth quarter revenue fell short of analysts’ estimates.
For the fiscal fourth quarter ended April 30, the Company reported net income of $23.3 million or 66 cents a share. Revenue rose 3.2% to $1.81 billion.
Analysts’ consensus estimate was for earnings of 62 cents a share on revenue of $1.83 billion.
Gross margin improved to 14.7% from 14%; notwithstanding 2.3% increase in input costs.
Operating expenses climbed 8.6% as the Company took a charge of $1.5 million linked to account receivable write-offs. An impairment charge of $700,000 linked to seven poorly performing stores is expected to be booked in the new fiscal year.
Gasoline sales volume (number of gallons sold), which accounts for the bulk of the top line, rose 1% on comparable-store-sales basis while margin widened to 17 cents a gallon compared to 13.7 cents a gallon, in the same quarter of last year.
Comparable-store sales increased 4.4% in the prepared food and mountain segment but average margin narrowed to 60.5% from 60.8%.
Comparable-store sales edged down 0.2% in groceries and other merchandise segment while average margin shrank to 31.7% from 33%, in the year-earlier quarter.
The Company cited “challenging weather comparisons throughout the entire quarter” for lackluster sales growth, adding that price adjustments on cigarettes impacted margins.
Still, Chairman and CEO Robert J. Myers sounded optimistic as he said, “we are encouraged by the recent stabilization in cigarette sales and expect continued growth in beer and beverage sales during fiscal 2014.”
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Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.
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