케이시스 제너럴 스토어스(CASY) 2027 회계연도 1분기 실적 발표: EPS 28% 상승

케이시스 제너럴 스토어스(NASDAQ: CASY)는 조리 식품 고객수 증가, 높은 연료 마진, 점포망 확장에 힘입어 2027 회계연도 1분기 견조한 성장을 기록했다고 발표했다. 희석 EPS는 전년 동기 대비 28% 증가했으며, EBITDA는 17% 늘어났다.

핵심 요약

• 희석 EPS는 7.37달러로 28% 증가했고, 순이익은 2억 7,400만 달러로 27% 증가했으며, EBITDA는 4억 8,500만 달러로 17% 늘어났다.
• 총매출은 56억 8,000만 달러로 24.3% 증가했으며, 이는 주로 매장 내 매출 증가와 평균 소매 연료 가격이 갤런당 3.99달러로 33% 상승한 점을 반영한다.
• 매장 내 동일 점포 매출은 3.2% 성장했다. 조리 식품 및 음료 동일 점포 매출은 주로 고객수 증가와 최소한의 가격 인상에 힘입어 4.8% 증가했다.
• 연료 마진은 갤런당 0.478달러로 전년 동기 대비 0.068달러 상승한 반면, 동일 점포 연료 판매량은 0.3% 감소했다. 경영진은 케이시스가 미국 중부(Mid-Continent) 지역 대비 연료 시장 점유율을 계속 확대했다고 밝혔다.
• 총 영업비용은 신규 점포, 인건비, 신용카드 수수료, 보험료, 수리 및 유지비, 공공요금 등의 영향으로 8% 늘어났다.
• 경영진은 2027 회계연도에 120개 점포를 추가할 계획을 순조롭게 진행 중이며, 리모델링 점포가 4분기 무렵부터 공사 차질 여파를 보다 의미 있게 상쇄하기 시작할 것으로 예상하고 있다.

주요 재무 데이터

사업 및 영업 실적

조리 식품과 음료는 매장 내 매출의 주요 견인차 역할을 유지했다. 거래 건수는 100bp 이상 증가했고 판매 수량은 4%가량 늘어났다. 홀 피자 판매 수량은 두 자릿수에 가까운 성장을 기록했으며, 경영진은 가성비 상품에 대한 고객의 지속적인 관심과 제한적인 가격 인상을 주요 배경으로 꼽았다.

해당 부문의 매출총이익률 59.3%는 치즈 원가가 파운드당 1.93달러로 전년 동기(2.11달러) 대비 9% 하락한 덕을 보았다. 치즈 원가 감소는 마진율에 약 45bp 기여했으며, 나머지 전년 대비 상승분은 내부 물류비 재분류에 따른 것이다.

식료품 및 일반 잡화 실적은 엇갈렸다. 니코틴 대체재는 47%, 에너지 제품은 12%, RTD(Ready-to-Drink) 칵테일은 30% 이상 증가했다. 반면 맥주, 스낵, 연초 담배는 계속 압박을 받았다. 케이시스는 니코틴 대체재에 더 많은 진열 공간을 배정하고 있으며, 전국구 스낵 브랜드가 가격을 인상한 분야에서는 자체 브랜드(PB) 상품을 확대하고 있다.

연료 매출총이익은 19.6% 증가했다. 동일 점포 연료 판매량(갤런)은 소폭 감소했으나, 경영진은 리모델링 공사 차질로 인해 약 50bp의 부정적 영향이 있었다고 설명했다. 컨퍼런스 콜에서 언급된 OPIS 미드콘티넌트 지역의 약 10% 감소와 비교할 때, 케이시스의 2년 누적 동일 점포 연료 판매량 성장률은 1.4%를 기록했다.

케이시스는 2026 회계연도에 약 50개 점포의 리모델링을 완료한 데 이어 이번 분기에도 인수 점포 24곳을 추가로 리모델링했다. 리모델링 점포의 조리 식품 및 음료 매출은 리모델링 이전 동기 대비 약 30% 증가했다. 공사 영향으로 매장 내 동일 점포 매출은 약 25bp, 동일 점포 연료 판매량은 약 50bp 감소했다.

케이시스의 리워드 플랫폼 회원 수는 현재 1,100만 명을 넘어섰다. 치킨 윙은 현재 850개 점포에서 판매 중이며, 다음 순차 출시는 여름 성수기가 지난 후 시작될 예정이다. 경영진은 치킨 윙 구매 고객의 38%가 윙 단독 주문을 했으며, 이들 고객의 전체 조리 식품 구매 빈도가 약 30% 증가했다고 밝혔다.

경영진 가이던스

경영진은 계절적으로 가장 비중이 큰 시기를 지난 후 2분기 실적 발표에서 연간 가이던스를 수정할 계획이다.

8월 매장 안팎의 동일 점포 판매량은 1분기 실적과 일치했으며 연간 가이던스 범위 내에 유지되었다. 연료 마진은 갤런당 0.40달러대 초반 수준이었다.

회사는 소매 연료 가격 상승으로 신용카드 수수료가 늘어난 점 등을 이유로 2분기 영업비용 증가율이 1분기와 비슷할 것으로 예상하고 있다. 경영진은 중장기적으로 영업비용 증가율이 EBITDA 증가율보다 완만할 것이라는 전망을 유지하고 있다.

치즈 원가는 2028 회계연도 1분기 초까지 약 80%에 대해 헤지가 완료된 상태다. 경영진은 2027 회계연도의 남은 3개 분기 동안 치즈 원가에 따른 전년 동기 대비 소폭의 마진 개선 효과를 기대하고 있다.

케이시스는 2027 회계연도 동안 120개 점포를 추가하는 계획을 차질 없이 추진하고 있다. 회사는 절반가량은 신규 출점, 나머지 절반은 소규모 인수를 통해 이뤄질 것으로 예상한다.

리스크 및 주시 사항

석유 시장이 지정학적 소식에 반응함에 따라 이번 분기 연료 마진은 일별로 갤런당 0.40달러에서 0.60달러 사이를 오가며 변동성을 나타냈다. 8월 마진은 0.40달러대 초반으로 진정되었다.

일부 매장의 경우 점포 리모델링으로 4~6주간의 영업 차질이 발생한다. 경영진은 리모델링에 따른 매출 증대 효과가 2분기, 나아가 3분기까지도 공사 차질 영향을 의미 있게 상쇄하진 못할 것으로 보며, 4분기 무렵에 반등이 가시화될 가능성이 높은 것으로 판단한다.

소매 연료 가격 상승으로 신용카드 수수료 비용이 늘어나고 있다. 임금 상승, 건강보험, 공공요금, 수리 및 유지비 증가 역시 영업비용 증가에 기여했다.

저소득층 고객은 다른 소득 계층보다 다소 더 압박을 받았으나, 경영진은 조사 대상 3개 소득 계층 모두에서 양(+)의 성장을 기록했다고 밝혔다. 맥주, 스낵, 연초 담배는 해당 카테고리에서 여전히 부정적 요인으로 작용하고 있다.

애널리스트 Q&A 주요 내용

• 연료 수익성: 경영진은 1분기 연료 마진의 변동성이 컸지만, 마진 하한선은 중동 분쟁 이전보다 높은 수준을 유지했다고 설명했다. 연료 가격 상승으로 고객들은 방문당 구매량(갤런)을 줄이는 대신 방문 횟수를 늘렸으며, 케이시스에 마진이 더 높은 일반 유류 및 고에탄올 연료로 전환하는 모습을 보였다.
• 리모델링 수익률: 인수된 점포들은 조리 식품을 포함해 이미 상대적으로 판매량이 많은 입지였다. 경영진은 리모델링 후 조리 식품 매출이 약 30% 증가한 것을 고무적으로 평가하며, 댈러스, 오스틴, 샌안토니오, 휴스턴을 제외한 텍사스 지역에서 장기적인 성장 여력이 크다고 보고 있다.
• 경쟁적 입지: 케이시스는 편의점 경쟁업체들 사이에서 특이한 판촉 활동이 관측되지 않았다고 밝혔다. 케이시스의 싱글 토핑 피자 가격은 전국 브랜드 대비 평균 약 3달러 저렴하며, 전체 점포의 절반가량은 인근에 경쟁하는 전국 피자 체인이 없다.
• 비용 추이: 경영진은 영업비용 증가율 8% 중 약 2%포인트는 신규 출점, 약 1.5%포인트는 동일 점포 인건비, 2%포인트 가까이는 동일 점포 신용카드 수수료에 기인한 것이라고 설명했다. 동일 점포의 노동 시간은 거의 변동이 없었다.
• M&A 환경: 경영진은 소규모 자영업자들이 압박을 받으면서 인수 조건이 매수자에게 여전히 유리한 상태라고 밝혔다. 거래 멀티플은 비교적 안정적으로 유지되었으나, 매도자의 EBITDA가 감소함에 따라 일부 자산의 절대적 인수 가격이 하락했다.

실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the First Quarter FY 2027 Casey's General Store Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Sam James, Senior Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Sir, please go ahead.

Samuel James

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss the results of our first quarter ended July 31, 2026. My name is Sam James, Senior Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations. With me today are Darren Rebelez, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Steve Bramlage, Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I will remind you that certain statements made by us during this investor call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include any statements relating to the potential impact of the Fikes transaction expectations of future periods, possible or assumed future results of operations, financial conditions, liquidity and related sources or needs, the company's supply chain, business and integration strategies, plans and synergies, growth opportunities and performance at our stores.

There are a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from any uncertainties or any future results expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the integration of the recent Pipes acquisition, our ability to execute our strategic plans or realize the synergies from the strategic plan, the impact and duration of conflicts in oil-producing regions and related governmental actions as well as other risks, uncertainties and factors which are described on our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC and available on our website.

Any forward-looking statements made during this call reflect our current views as of today with respect to future events and Casey's disclaims any attention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. A reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures referenced in this call as well as a detailed breakdown of our operating expense increase for the first quarter can be found on our website at www.caseys.com under the Investor Relations link.

With that said, I'd like to turn the call over to Darren to discuss first quarter results. Darren?

Darren Rebelez

Thanks, Sam, and good morning, everyone. Before we go into further detail on our outstanding first quarter performance, I'd like to thank the entire Casey's team for their hard work during our 100 days of summer or for the excellent job they did serving our guests. I'm also about of the positive impact we're making on the communities we serve. As students said back-to-school, our annual path for classrooms giving an raised funds for grants that will support schools, students and teachers.

This year, with the help of our guests, team members and supplier partner, Coca-Cola, we raised over $1.8 million. This is a new record and reflects our shared commitment to invest in the future of the communities we call home. We're through the first quarter of our fiscal 2027 to 2029 3-year strategic plan that we laid out in June where we highlighted Casey's advantaged convenience QSR flywheel with our 3 lines of business under 1 operating cost structure. Our strong first quarter result is yet another proof point that our advantaged model is working as we continue to gain share, both inside and outside the store.

Now let's discuss the results from the quarter. Diluted EPS finished at $7.37 per share, up 28% from the prior year. Net income was $274 million, an increase of 27% from the prior year. The company generated $485 million of EBITDA, 17% higher than the prior year and up 40% on a 2-year stack business. Inside the store, prepared food and dispensed beverages remained strong. PF&DB transactions were up over 100 basis points, driving PF&DB units up nearly 4% versus the same period in the prior year as best continue to gravitate toward our abundant offering, compelling value and continued innovations such as our Bacon, Cheeseburger, pizza LTO.

Inside margin expansion was driven primarily by prepared food and dispensed beverage mix. In forecourt, the capabilities we developed over the past couple of years helped us navigate a volatile environment. Fuel margin was nearly $0.48 per gallon, while same-store gallons were roughly flat. One note on the quarter. As part of our integration of the Fiest acquisition, approximately 1% of our total store base have planned disruption associated with remodeling legacy [indiscernible] stores to Casey's. As a result, same-store sales, both inside and outside the store faced a slight headwind. Despite this, we still posted strong same-store results for the quarter and remained ahead of schedule our integration efforts. The stores have been already remodeled to Casey's in prior periods have performed exceptionally well and we expect to remodel [indiscernible] Setco stores throughout the fiscal year.

With that disclaimer out of the way, I'd like to now go over our results and share some of the details in each of the categories. inside same-store sales were up 3.2% for the quarter or 7.7% on a 2-year stack basis. Gross profit margin for the quarter was 42.2%, up 30 basis points from the prior year. For Person dispense fabrics by the way, as same-store sales were up 4.8% or 10.7% on a 2-year stack basis, with a gross profit margin of 59.3%. The majority of same-store sales growth was from traffic with minimal pricing. This was highlighted by great performance in whole pies with units up nearly double digits in the quarter.

Same-store grocery and general merchandise sales were up 2.7% or 6.5% on a 2-year stack basis with a gross profit margin of 35.6%. Energy dreams and nicotine alternatives continue to outperform the category with double-digit growth. The alcohol category, specifically Bayer, was a headwind during the quarter. On the fuel side, same-store gallons sold were down slightly at 0.3% but were positive 1.4% on a 2-year stack basis with a fuel margin of $0.478 per gallon. The Mid-Continent region saw an approximate 6% decline this quarter according to Opus fuel gallon sold data, indicating that our play is working and we continue to gain market share and drive guest traffic.

In the quarter, same-store operating expense, excluding credit card fees increased 5%. Steve will provide some of the specific puts and takes related to operating expense changes. But I'm extremely proud of our operations team to be able to meet the increased food demand without meaningfully increasing store labor hours as same-store round were roughly flat for the quarter.

I'd now like to turn the call over to Steve to discuss the financial results from the first quarter. Steve?

Stephen Bramlage

Thank you, Darren, and good morning. Before I begin, I also want to share my appreciation for our team members' hard work executing a plan during our busy summer months. It takes the entire organization's buy and to be able to generate such strong results, which are not easy to achieve. Our total revenue for the quarter was $5.68 billion. That's an increase of $1.11 billion or 24.3% from the prior year due primarily to higher inside sales and a higher retail price of fuel. Higher fuel gallons also contributed. The results were favorably impacted by operating approximately 2% more stores on a year-over-year basis.

Total inside sales for the quarter were $1.78 billion, and that's an increase of $94 million or 5.6% from the prior year. For the quarter, prepared food and dispensed beverage sales rose by $34 million to $493 million, an increase of 7.4% and grocery and general merchandise sales increased by $60 million to $1.28 billion, an increase of 4.9%. And inside same-store sales had an approximate 25 basis point headwind from the Fikes construction. Retail fuel sales were up $991 million in the quarter as the average retail price of fuel rose 33% from $3 to $3.99 per gallon, and total gallons sold increased by 2.5%.

Same-store gallons sent an approximately 50 basis point headwind from the Fikes construction. We define gross profit as revenue less cost of goods sold, but excluding depreciation and amortization. Casey's had total gross profit of $1.24 billion in the quarter, an increase of $127 million or 11.4% from the prior year and up 29.7% on a 2-year stack basis. This is driven by both higher inside gross profit of $44.3 million or 6.3% as well as higher fuel gross profit of $73.4 million or 19.6%.

Inside gross profit margin was 42.2%, and that's up 30 basis points from a year ago. The increase is primarily due to mix shift and solid cost of this management. Also, during the first quarter, we made a modest change in accounting for inside cost of goods sold related to internal distribution costs that had no net impact on inside margin in the aggregate, but it did create a slight tailwind to the PF and DB margin and a slight headwind to the grocery and [indiscernible]. We believe this change better reflects the true cost of goods sold between the 2 categories.

Prepared food and dispensed beverage gross profit margin was 59.3%. That's up 130 basis points from prior year. Cheese was $1.93 per pound for the quarter compared to $2.11 per pound last year. It's a decrease of 9% or an approximate 45 basis points benefit to the margin, along with the aforementioned distribution cost reclass, these 2 items accounted for all of the margin change in the quarter. The grocery and general merchandise gross profit margin was 35.6%, a decrease of 30 basis points from the prior year, and that change is completely attributable to the distribution cost reclass. Fuel margin for the quarter was $0.478 per gallon, up $0.068 per gallon from the prior year and sequentially about $0.01 stronger than the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 which reflected the beginning of the Middle East conflict and the related volatility in global petroleum markets.

Total operating expenses were up 8% or $55.9 million. Approximately 2% of the total operating expense increase was due to unit growth as we operated 64 more stores than the prior year. Same-store credit card fees added approximately 1.5% to the increase primarily due to the previously mentioned higher retail prices per gallon. Same-store employee expenses accounted for approximately 1% of the increase due primarily to increases in labor rates as same-store labor hours were roughly flat. Insurance, primarily same-store health care insurance was responsible for approximately 1% of the increase.

In addition, same-store repairs and maintenance and same-store utilities collectively made up approximately 1% of the increase. Net interest expense was $22.1 million in the quarter, that's down $4.8 million versus the prior year, which is primarily due to deleveraging associated with the Fikes transaction. Depreciation the quarter was $116 million. That's up $7 million versus the prior year, primarily due to operating more stores. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 21.1% compared to the prior year of 22.7%. That decrease was driven by an increase in tax benefits that were recognized on share-based awards.

Our financial flexibility remains excellent. On July 31, we had total available liquidity of $1.4 billion. Also, our credit facility debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 1.5x. For the quarter, net cash generated by operating activities of $384 million less purchases of property and equipment of $194 million resulted in the company generating $190 million in free cash flow compared to generating $262 million in the prior year. The decrease in free cash flow is due in large part to the planned increase in capital expenditures from the Seco store remodels. At the September meeting, the Board of Directors voted to maintain the quarterly dividend at $0.65 per share.

During the first quarter, we repurchased approximately $46 million in shares. While we're off to a great start to the year. Consistent with our past practice, we plan to update annual guidance on our second quarter earnings call, and we are through the seasonally largest time of the year. Our results for August were as follows: same-store volumes, both inside and outside the store were consistent with the first quarter results and within our annual guidance ranges. Fuel CPG is in the low $0.40 per gallon.

Current cheese costs are slightly favorable versus the prior year. We expect the second quarter operating expense increase to be similar to the first quarter, and that's partially driven by the increase in retail fuel prices as compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2026.

I'll now turn the call back over to Darren.

Darren Rebelez

Thanks, Steve. As we just wrapped up our first quarter into the new plan, I'm as excited as ever about our progress. Our food team is doing a tremendous job. [indiscernible] have continued their strong momentum in the quarter. Just are flocking to the Casey's Rewards platform as we're now over 11 million members. We believe our abundant and value-oriented food offering is not only a differentiator driving inside traffic but is also driving traffic to the pump. This, coupled with our fuel team doing an excellent job balancing fuel margin in gallons during an uncertain environment has yielded great results. This is our 3-legged business model in action.

During fiscal year 2026, we remodeled approximately 50 Setco stores to Casey's. In first quarter of fiscal year 2017, we've remodeled 24 more stores. We're extremely excited about the results we're seeing as the average PFDD list at the stores that were remodeled to Casey's has been approximately 30% versus the results of the same period prior to remodel. While we're busy with [indiscernible] conversions has not stopped us from continuing to grow the store base as we are on track to meet our 120 store unit goal for the fiscal year. Operational efficiency is another key pillar of the strategic plan.

As we discussed at Investor Day, we expanded our continuous improvement efforts to include both the store and the enterprise as a whole. We're off to a great start as the team has completed a number of initiatives with many more on track for completion during the fiscal year, both at the store and throughout the organization. Overall, I'm very proud of the team's execution of the plan. We look forward to building on the momentum we have going throughout the fiscal year and beyond.

We will now take your questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question comes from the line of Edward Kelly with Wells Fargo.

질의응답

Edward Kelly

I wanted to start on fuel margins. I was hoping that you can maybe talk about the trend in fuel margin during Q1. I think you said you had a very strong start last quarter, which I think a lot of us kind of assume that maybe that was -- just curious what the rest of the quarter looked like. And then the underlying dynamics that drove that really robust Q4 performance and strong start.

Just curious as to the sustainability of those dynamics through the quarter, and then just lastly related to all this, as you think about your mid-40s sort of margin guide, anything you're seeing out there currently that sort of raises question about that at all? Maybe talk about breakevens as part of that.

Stephen Bramlage

This is Steve. I'll address the first. The first 1 on fuel margins during the course of the quarter. Yes, we certainly -- we did enter the beginning of the fiscal year in a good position, certainly given the experience that we had in the fourth quarter. But I would say, honestly, that the quarter was volt's always the word I would describe with fuel margins. There were days when it was in the 60s. There were days when it was in most days, it was in the 40s. And to some extent, depending on the headlines that you read about in the paper and social media, there would be a corresponding move and to margin over the next year or 2.

So I don't think it's possible to really drive a solid trend during the course of the quarter. The floor for sure was higher which is what we saw in the fourth quarter of last year because of the conflict that was unchanged, but it really moved around quite a bit based on headlines as we went through the quarter.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Our next question comes from the line of Greg Melich with Evercore ISI.

Gregory Melich

I'd love to follow up on sort of the trends you saw through the quarter, particularly with how much of the comp decel in grocery and prepared food might have been people getting squeezed in terms of cash they had filling up the gas tank at the same time, anything about that in the trends from -- since the quarter as well?

Darren Rebelez

Yes, Greg, this is Darren. I'll go ahead and take that one. Yes, I would say that the trends that we saw in first quarter were similar to what we've seen over the last several quarters. a couple of points. One is that the lower-income consumers are being slightly more impacted than the other income cohorts. If you look at our business, all 3 in the cohorts that we measure had positive growth in the quarter. So I'll caveat it with that. But I would say that been more of the impact we saw in the grocery and general merchandise side is really driven by category trends versus demographic trends.

And what I mean by that is you look at the 3 areas where we had some softness is beer, snacks and cigarettes. And those categories have all been challenged for different reasons. That's an industry-wide phenomenon. We're not immune to that. On the beer side, we were able to make up for a good part of that with our liquor business. ready-to-drink cocktails in particular, were up over 30% in the quarter. So we saw some good strength there, not enough to overcome the dragon beer.

Snacks, I think we talked about this before. We're seeing a lot of price action taken from the National brands, which has put some pressure on there, and 6 has been a multi-decade trend. On the other side, on grocery and general merchandise, real strength in Nick alternatives up 47% in the quarter. Energy continues to perform well at 12% and nonalcoholic beverages overall, were a strong contributor. So overall, I'd say the trends are what they are.

And then lastly, when I look at a 2-year stack basis, Grocery and General Merchandise up 6.5% in an environment like this, I think, is pretty solid performance.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Our next question. next question will come from the line of Tom Palmer with JPMorgan.

Thomas Palmer

I wanted to maybe just follow up on the CFCO commentary in terms of the remodels. You noted 25 basis point inside same-store sales headwind and 50 on the fuel side -- fuel gallons. How did this compare to kind of what you would see on past remodels? And then as we look out here over the next couple of quarters, should we be thinking about a similar kind of headwind? Or does like a lift from the remodeled stores start to more than offset, let's say, any headwind from the disruption during the remodels?n

Darren Rebelez

Yes. This is Darren. On the remodels, this is to be expected when we do heavy lifting. Why you didn't see this in the first quarter -- or fourth quarter of last year, was there is a cohort of stores that already had kitchens in them that we were able to convert in just a matter of days. So there's really very minimal impact to the performance of the business while those were being remodeled. -- this next tranche of stores that we started this quarter, this past quarter are impacted anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks. And so that puts a pretty significant drag.

They've not closed the entire time, but they're closed for a good part of it and then partially under construction part of it. So there's a lot of disruption that puts a drag. It is not anything different than what we would normally see in a remodel of other acquisitions. Probably the biggest difference is the [indiscernible] stores tend to be higher-volume stores versus others that we've acquired in the past. And so it has more of a disproportionate impact. And there's just more of them that we're remodeling.

So -- that all said, we've been very happy with the results coming out of the remodels. And so at some point, to your point, Tom, these numbers will inflect, but that's probably later in the fiscal year. And so I wouldn't expect to see that in the second quarter, probably not anything meaningfully in third quarter. It'll probably be more fourth quarter or you start to see that inflection point.

Stephen Bramlage

Yes. And I would probably just add to that, all of this was confidence in our annual guidance, we knew all this was going to happen. And so none of this is a surprise and I think it's exactly kind of the impact and the timing that we would have expected.

Operator

Our next question will be from the line of Bonnie Herzog with Goldman Sachs.

Bonnie Herzog

I had a question on [indiscernible] which has remained elevated over the last several years. So could you provide a little more color on the FQ1 drivers and how you expect the cadence for OpEx to trend from here. And then curious if you could touch on how much of the increase in the quarter was tied to the new stores or subco, maybe labor, credit card fees or other inflationary pressures? And just really just trying to think about how we should think about normalized OpEx growth from here over the long term?

Stephen Bramlage

This is Steve. In terms of the waterfall, that I think will end up on the web page as we've done in the past. But to get to the total OpEx change of the 8% in the quarter, about 1.5 points of that was same-store employee expense. So think of kind of 3% wage rate offset by flat hours gets you kind of 1.5 points. About 2% would have been what we would kind of broadly bucketed same-store operations. So that would be repairs and maintenance, utilities, insurance, self-insured for health care, that would go into that 2% bucket new units to your point, is about 2% all by itself, just the ramp of new units.

Credit card fees, same-store credit card fees would be another 1.5 points, almost 2 points and then you get kind of everything else in the 1% bucket, which would be technology and supplies and some miscellaneous things. We continue to believe -- the best way to think about OpEx on a long-term basis is consistent with the algorithm, right, we'll grow.

We firmly believe we can grow operating expenses at a slower rate and we're going to grow EBITDA over the medium and long term. I think that's imminently achievable for us. And for this year, I'd just probably point back to -- we obviously haven't updated the guide for the year. But the squeeze math for the rest of the rest of the year. If you go back to what we experienced in the fourth quarter of last year, you'll get less OpEx growth on a year-over-year basis this year to land the plane within that range. And especially if you take the second quarter is going to look similar to first because of the credit card fee dynamic you should be able to land second half of the year pretty close.

Operator

Our next question will come from the line of Mark Carden with UBS.

Unknown Analyst

This is Matthew [indiscernible] on for Mark. So I was wondering if you could touch on the competitive landscape and promotional landscape a little bit. Are you seeing any impact from price investments from some of the merchants on your inside sales or grocery and gen merch and any shift from kind of your convenience store peers and competition and thing?

Darren Rebelez

Matthew, this is Darren. Really, we haven't seen any unusual or different activity from the C-store competitive. And I think that's a reflection of the more challenged environment that they find themselves in. relative to us with a big Prepared Foods business. But yes, we really haven't seen much of that there. On the pizza side of the business, it's been a it's been a mixed bag. I think there's been some more promotional activity.

But again, I'd remind you of how we approach the business. We have our own degree of promotional activity, but our starting point is far lower in price versus the national brands. We're close to, on average, about $3 for a single topping pizza below what a national brand would be priced at just line pricing. And then also, as a reminder, about half of our stores don't even have a national brand pizza competitors. So we're really in a very good competitive spot.

And what we did see over the quarter was that similar to the dynamic that we described in Investor Day, where we've taken minimal price while the pizza QSR set has taken more price we saw that dynamic in first quarter continue. And that gap that we had from our pricing in Prepared Foods to theirs actually widened even further. So we think we saw that in numbers with the unit growth and the dollar growth as well in PF&DB.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Chuck Cerankosky with Northcoast Research.

Charles Cerankosky

Great quarter. I'd like to return to the nicotine category. It's shrinking on the cigarette side. Could you talk a little bit about the -- I kind of came even think of the name right now, the artificial cigarettes and then what it means for the inside merchandising as you change space allocation or need to use other products to get the traffic back?

Darren Rebelez

Yes. Chuck, this is Darren. And they're called nicotine alternatives. And so yes, that -- what we've seen over the course of the last couple of years is as the secular decline in combustible cigarettes continues, nicotine alternatives is starting to replace that lost volume. Now it's not a 1 for 1 yet. It hasn't quite grown that fast. But if you think about how the categories are trending with cigarettes down 1% or 2% on a sales basis and down call it, 5% or 6% on a unit basis and nicotine alternatives up 47% in the quarter.

You can see where that change is going to come here soon. from a space allocation standpoint, I think that's where our merchandising team has done a really good job is getting ahead of this. And we talked about this on previous calls. We reset those nicotine backbars to reduce the combustible cigarette space to make more room for nicotine alternatives. And that move a couple of years ago is I think we were 1 of the first in the industry to do that. And really improved our benefit.

And I think that's 1 of the reasons that you see the strength in that category today in our stores. And we just did another adjustment this past fiscal year to give even more space in the nicotine alternatives. So the category overall is definitely shifting in favor of those alternatives, and we expect to be a leader in that space.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Pooran Sharma with Stephens.

Pooran Sharma

Just a quick one from me. I think you mentioned your cheese cost is $1.93 per pound. Was just wondering if you could give us how much your -- as you're looking out here, how much you're covered and how many orders you are covered out?

Stephen Bramlage

Yes. For this is Steve. I'll address that. We are about 80% covered through early into the first quarter of next fiscal year. And generally, certainly, for the remainder of this fiscal year, the out quarters, we would be covered in a modest tailwind to margin each of those 3 quarters.

Operator

Our next question will be from the line of Cory Tarlowe with Jefferies.

Pooran Sharma

have a 2-parter. So the first, I would love an update on chicken wings. And then second is on M&A I think you've placed recently a little bit more emphasis on Texas. Could you maybe talk a little bit about the strategy within that market, please?

Darren Rebelez

Corey, this is Darren. With respect to wings, wings are performing well. We've been really happy with the results so far, we're still in 850 stores, and we'll start rolling out the next tranche of stores here later this month. We didn't do any rollouts over the 100 days of summer, just to give our stores a chance during their biggest peak period to execute at a high level. So we'll start those now, and we'll start getting those open probably in early third quarter.

Wings, like I said, it performed well, 1 of the encouraging things is about 38% of guests have purchased wings at a wings only order. And you recall when we talked about this strategically, we are looking to achieve another night of the week or another occasion, in addition to pizza. And so those wing-only orders really represent that incremental occasion. And so the folks that have had a wing-only order had increased their frequency of prepared food purchases overall by about 30%.

So it's a really good fact pattern for us. We're still early stages and still growing as an example, in the Des Moines DMA, which we've had the wings in the longest, we were up 46% in the quarter over prior year. So there's still a long runway for growth there. and very bullish on that category.

Operator

And our next question will come from the line of Kelly Bania with BMO Capital Markets.

Kelly Bania

Steve and Darren, I wanted to just go back to the beer snacks and cigarette momentary and the impact on the grocery comps -- just curious a little bit more color there when that kind of weaker trend started? And are you seeing just more of a unit slowdown? Or is there a trade down to lower price points or smaller pack sizes? And do you -- or some of the vendor plans to promote these categories through the rest of the year?

Darren Rebelez

Yes, Kelly, or go ahead and take that. And you got something different going on in each of those. I'd say I'll just start with cigarettes because that's the easiest that's been for 30, 40 years, that trend. So nothing new to report in cigarettes. -- other than it's just continuing to be under pressure. And like I said, I feel better about that category, the total nicotine category now than I have in a long time because of Nick alternatives and the growth rate we're seeing there and the margin profile.

As a reminder, the margin in Nick alternatives is double what it is in combustible cigarettes. So that ends up -- that math ends up working out pretty favorably on a gross profit dollar standpoint over long term. Snacks is something that we've experienced for the last couple of years. where the national brand manufacturers have just taken a lot of price primarily in chips. And so you see a lot of pressure in that category. And while there's been some some price action that they're taking of take-home packages, they're not taking that on immediate consumption packages, which is the bulk of what we sell.

So there's just -- they just price themselves out of the market, frankly. Now what we're doing about that is we've leaned heavier into our private label offering. And so we're seeing really good growth in those same categories in our private label products. So we think we're not really traffic necessarily, but the retails are lower. And so it doesn't have quite the impact on the sales line as we might otherwise have. In beer, beer has been a category that's really struggled for the last couple of years. I think it started off with Budweiser and their social media snap and then it's just kind of hung in there like that.

The one bright spot is super premium beer would make Ultra. But outside of that, it's been soft. What we've really done is we have made sure that we're were priced appropriately. We are looking at space allocation in the category to make sure we're appropriately spaced and then leaning a little bit heavier on the liquor category. And like I mentioned earlier on the call, Ray to drink cocktails up 30-plus percent. So that's been a good offset, and that's a little bit more on trend with where the consumers are going.

Operator

Our next question will be from the line of Brad Thomas with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Bradley Thomas

I wanted to ask about the same-store gallons. I know it's tracking within your annual guidance. This was the first quarter being negative after about 6 quarters of being positive. Just curious what you were seeing in the quarter, how much of the decline is being a tougher comparison that you're up against? And then to what extent is fewer gas sales trickling through to the inside comp? I'm not sure if you've been able to look at that yet.

Darren Rebelez

Yes, Brad, I'll go ahead and take that. Just on the same-store gallons on the trend, a few things I'd point out. One is down 30 basis points. So our annual guide was down 1% to 2%. So we're talking about pretty nuanced numbers there, point number one. Point number two, as Steve described with the CFCO REIT model, that's about a 50 basis point drag on overall gallons. So you -- so if you net that out, you're probably up 20 basis points. So that's, again, nuance, but it's probably right in the middle of the annual guide range.

Now on a 2-year stack basis, we were cycling a 1.7% same-store gallon number. And to put that in perspective, so we're -- on a 2-year stack, we're up 1.4%. The OPIS Mid-Continent region, which is where we operate primarily over that same 2-year period is down 10%. So we've taken significant share in fuel and 20 basis points here, 30 basis points there doesn't concern me when the overall trend is where it is. And from a -- I would just add with a consumer behavior standpoint on fuel, with higher fuel prices. We're seeing exactly the type of behavior that we would expect to see fewer gallons per trip, but more trips made which ultimately accrues to our benefit if we had more people coming to the store.

People are trading out of premium and mid-grade and opting for regular or higher ethanol blends of fuel higher ethanol blends of fuel carry a higher margin for us than clear gasoline. So while these trends kind of ebb and flow, it's very consistent with prior periods of higher gas prices and ultimately out to our benefit.

Operator

Our next question will come from the line of Krisztina Katai with Deutsche Bank.

Krisztina Katai

I had a follow-up to grocery. So Darren, you've highlighted strong growth in energy in nonalcoholic beverages and nicotine alternatives, but obviously, snacks remain challenged. So do you think the weakness in snacks is entirely a function of pricing and value perception? And are you starting to see evidence, maybe of a more durable shift in consumer behavior? Obviously, there is a shift towards healthier consumption patterns or also any GLP-1 usage that you might be seeing? And if that is warranting any kind of a revision of how you're thinking about maybe what the inside of the box needs to look like, maybe 2 to 3 years from now?

Darren Rebelez

Yes. Thanks, Krisztina. And certainly, we keep an eye on that. But when I look at what's happening in the category, and as I mentioned before, on snacks in particular, National brand shuts down around 8%. TC's chips up 16% in units. So -- if it was a GLP-1 impact, I don't think we'd see the strength in our own private brand. We just -- we see overall negative trend in the category. So I can't put my finger on the idea that it's a GLP-1 type issue.

That being said, there is certainly a trend of people leaning more towards protein-heavy snacks and foods in general, we are seeing that and our merchandising team has done a nice job of bringing in more protein-dense snacks and other foods -- to satisfy that need, and we are seeing good growth in those. They're just smaller categories.

So they really don't move the needle as much on the overall GnGM category, but they are going well. And we are saying it tuned to that trend, we just -- I just don't see it yet to make any more dramatic shifts at this point.

Operator

Our next question will be from the line of Bobby Griffin with Raymond James.

Robert Griffin

Darren, I wanted to touch on just the Texas opportunity further. And I think you called out on the remodel stores for Fikes they're performing well. But can you dive into a little bit more about what those stores are kind of showing versus maybe corporate average once they get your Casey's pizza in there. I think bikes were higher performing stores. So is that translating into a higher just larger pizza business? And is that indicative of what maybe the opportunity could be as you open up new to industry or you do tuck-ins, you guys completed a small tuck-in in Texas after the quarter end?

Darren Rebelez

Yes, Bobby. Like we said, the performance of the CECO stores has been fantastic so far coming out of the remodels. And what I'd say is most encouraging is that these stores were high volume. They were generally higher volume than our average. Now not in Prepared Foods, but their prepared foods business is probably the best that we've ever acquired. I don't think there's been anything that's even close to how CECO is performing in Prepared Foods prior to acquisition.

And so when we can come in and take a store already doing well in Prepared Foods and layer our program on top of it and see the types of lifts that we're seeing, 30-plus percent year-over-year is really encouraging. And even in the proof-of-concept stores that had the full Casey's assortment for over a year, they're still comping positively. And so we feel really good about what we see. We've also had some new to industry stores that we built out in Texas over the last year since we've been down there, and those are performing very well.

So we really like Texas overall. We -- as you know, this has been a goal of ours to get into that state for a while now. The 2 acquisitions we've done and now 1/3 coming have been very good to us, and the new industries are doing well and as I have looked at Texas outside of the big 4 cities of Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston. The rest of that entire state is Casey's Country and from our perspective, it's got a long, long runway for growth.

Operator

Our next question will be from the line of Daniel Glioma with Capital One Securities.

Daniel Guglielmo

Kind of a follow-up on kind of state strength. You have stores in 9 different states. If you think about customers at the state level, are there certain states or areas of the country where you're seeing a stronger consumer or weaker ones?

Darren Rebelez

Daniel, I'd have to look. I probably have to look a little closer to try to answer that question. Nothing jumps out at me probably 1 example that we have seen is between Illinois and Indiana on the border where Indiana has suspended gas tax in that state, and Illinois hasn't done anything similar. And so we're seeing a little bit of weakness along the border in Illinois from a fuel perspective, but we're also seeing a corresponding strength on our -- on the other side of the border in our Indiana store side.

I'd say it's kind of a wash just guess kind of playing an arbitrage game. But outside of that, I couldn't specifically point to any 1 state doing better or worse than the others. I mean, they always perform a little bit differently, but nothing that really jumps out that concerns me.

Stephen Bramlage

Yes. I think it's worth reinforcing it. If you just think about part of the strategic that Casey's has and then we tried to highlight at the Investor Day, right, the geographic footprint we have remains in some of the lowest cost of living parts of the country. And so broadly speaking, the money that our consumers earn goes further than it would certainly for consumers who are similarly situated on the coast, and we feel like that just accrues to our benefit, for sure. And I think that is a very fair statement for the vast majority of the communities that we serve and continue to serve.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Our next question comes from the line of Jacob Aiken-Phillips with Melius Research.

Unknown Analyst

This is Sam [indiscernible] on for Jacob. I was just wondering if you could zoom out a little and touch on M&A as a whole. Have you seen the industry change at all in the last several quarters? And then also, just wondering if you could remind us on philosophically just how you see M&A contributing to your 120 new unit growth target by the end of the fiscal year?

Stephen Bramlage

Yes, Sam, I'd say the M&A environment is still really good. And that's a reflection of the challenging environment that the industry finds itself in, particularly the small operators. And -- and so I would say it's changed. I'd say it's still consistent, they even gotten a little better from a buyer's perspective. And multiples have stayed relatively flat, but the EBITDA that's multiplied by as not. And the EBITDA, even with the higher fuel margins, tends to go backwards for the smaller operators.

So we find ourselves paying a lower absolute price for some of these assets, even though the multiples are about the same. And consistent with our guidance, every year, we go into that giving a number of stores we'll add in the fiscal year. This year, it's 120. We go into that, assuming half of that will come from new to entry builds half of that will come from the small deal M&A and that's exactly how we see it playing out this year, give or take a couple.

Operator

And I would now like to hand the conference back over to Darren Rebelez for closing remarks.

Darren Rebelez

All right. Thank you for taking time today to join us on the call. Before we go, I want to thank our team members once again for all their hard work this quarter. Have a great day. Thank you.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.