(By Balaseshan) Casey's General Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: CASY), which operates convenience stores, reported a 12.7% drop in quarterly earnings, saying cigarettes have been adversely impacted by competitive pricing as well as an increase in Illinois state excise tax.
Earnings for the second quarter were $32.86 million or $0.85 per share, down from $37.63 million or $0.98 per share last year. Revenue increased to $1.911 billion from $1.782 billion.
Analysts, on average, polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a profit of $0.85 per share on revenue of $1.91 billion for the second quarter.
In Gasoline segment, same-store gallons sold declined 0.4% with an average margin of 14.9 cents per gallon. In Grocery and Other Merchandise segment, same-store sales decreased 0.7% from last year with an average margin of 33.4%.
In Prepared Food and Fountain segment, same-store sales were up 10.1% from the same period a year ago, with average margin of 62.5%.
Operating expenses for the second quarter rose 10.6% to $190.04 million.
At its December meeting, the board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.165 per share. The dividend is payable February 15, 2013 to shareholders of record on February 1, 2013.
Looking ahead into the fiscal 2013, the company still expects to increase same-store gasoline gallons sold 1% with an average margin of 14.0 cents per gallon. Casey's annual goal was to increase same-store sales from Grocery and Other Merchandise 6.2% with an average margin of 32.7%.
The company's goal for fiscal 2013 was to increase same-store prepared food and fountain sales 11% with an average margin of 61.1%. The company expects to increase the total number of stores 4%-6%.
CASY closed Monday's regular session down 2.57% at $48.54. The stock has been trading between $46.15 and $63.00 for the past 52 weeks.