Caseys General Stores, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first quarter FY2027 Casey's General Store Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. 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, Finance and Investor Relations. Sir, please go ahead.

Good morning and thank you for joining us to discuss the results of our first quarter ended July 31st, 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 FIKE 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 Source. 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 FIPS acquisition, our ability to execute our strategic plan, or realize that Synergies from the Strategic Plan, the Impact and Duration of Conflicts in Oil Producing Regions, and Related Governmental Action, 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-gap to gap 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 our first quarter results. Darren?

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 for the excellent job they did serving our guests. I'm also proud of the positive impact we're making on the communities we serve. As students head back to school, our annual Path for Classrooms Giving Campaign 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 sets 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 three-year strategic plan that we laid out in June, where we highlighted Casey's Advantage convenience QSR flywheel with our three lines of business under one operating cost structure. Our strong first quarter result is yet another proof point that our Advantage 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. Debt income was $274 million, an increase of 27% from the prior year. The company generated $485 million in EBITDA, 17% higher than the prior year, and up 40% on a two-year stack basis. Inside the store, Prepared food and dispensed beverages remained strong. PF and DB transactions were up over 100 basis points, driving PF and DB units up nearly 4% versus the same period in the prior year as guests continued to gravitate toward our abundant offering, compelling value, and continued innovation such as our bacon cheeseburger pizza LTO. Inside margin expansion was driven primarily by prepared food and dispensed beverage mix. In the forecourt, the capabilities we developed over the past couple of years help us navigate a volatile environment. Fuel margin was nearly 48 cents per gallon, while same store gallons were roughly flat. One note on the quarter. As part of our integration of the FICE acquisition, approximately 1% of our total store base had a planned disruption associated with remodeling legacy Cefco 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 on our integration efforts. The stores that have been already remodeled to Casey's in prior periods have performed exceptionally well, and we expect to remodel Sefco stores throughout the fiscal year. Now 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 the two-year stack basis. Gross profit margin for the quarter was 42.2%, up 30 basis points from the prior year. Prepared food and dispensed beverage led the way, as same-store sales were up 4.8%, or 10.7% on the two-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 two-year stack basis with a gross profit margin of 35.6%. Energy drinks and nicotine alternatives continued to outperform the category with double-digit growth. The alcohol category, specifically beer, 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 two-year stack basis, with a fuel margin of 47.8 cents 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 currencies 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 labor hours 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?