Casey's General Reports Big Q4 Earnings Beat, Shares Rise 10%

Casey’s General Stores Inc CASY on Monday afternoon reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter and raised its quarterly dividend from 29 cents per share to 32 cents per share.

Casey's reported quarterly earnings of 68 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 52 cents. This is a 33.33-percent increase over earnings of 51 cents per share from the same period last year.

The company reported quarterly sales of $2.178 billion, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.1 billion. This is a 4.26-percent increase over sales of $2.089 billion the same period last year.

“The combination of gross profit dollar margin expansion, a focus on controlling operating expense growth, and opening more stores were the primary drivers of that growth,” said CEO Terry Handley in a press release. “The entire team demonstrated a focused effort to drive the business forward while working diligently to build out new capabilities that will support future earnings growth, including completing several value creation plan milestones in the fourth quarter."

Casey’s stock was trading up 10.5 percent at $147.10 in Tuesday's pre-market session.