Topic: How To Invest

What are your thoughts on Casey’s General Stores as an investment? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Casey’s General Stores, $54.05, symbol CASY on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 38.1 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; www.caseys.com), operates over 1,700 convenience stores under the Casey’s General Store and Just Diesel brands. The company’s stores are located in eleven Midwestern states, but they are mainly concentrated in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. Casey’s gets 71% of its revenue by selling gasoline, but its stores also offer food, including freshly prepared pizza, donuts and hamburgers, as well as beer and other beverages. In the three months ended October 31, 2011, Casey’s revenue rose 32.1%, to $1.8 billion from $1.3 billion a year earlier. Earnings jumped 73.5%, to $37.6 million from $21.7 million. Earnings per share rose 94.1%, to $0.99 from $0.51, on fewer shares outstanding. However, if you exclude the money the company spent to fend off a hostile takeover bid from Alimentation Couche-Tard, symbol ATD.B on Toronto (a recommendation of our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter), in 2011, its earnings per share would have been $0.81 in…