Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY)

When a company like Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY) posts $15.94 billion in total revenue and manages 2,904 stores in fiscal year 2025, you have to ask: what is the bedrock supporting that kind of scale and growth? It's not just the pizza and fuel sales; it's the foundational documents-the Mission Statement, Vision, and Core Values-that translate into real-world performance, driving a net income of over $546.52 million for the year. Do your investment decisions or business strategies truly account for how these core principles, like the 'Casey's CARES' values, map to their aggressive expansion and operational excellence, or are you just looking at the earnings per share (EPS) of $14.64? The difference between a good investment and a great one often lies in understanding this alignment, so let's dig into the DNA of the company.

Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY) Overview

You're looking for a clear, no-nonsense breakdown of a company that has quietly dominated the Midwest's convenience store landscape, and Casey's General Stores, Inc. is a fascinating case study. The direct takeaway is that Casey's has successfully transcended the traditional gas station model, becoming a major food retailer-the numbers from fiscal year 2025 defintely back this up.

The company's story began in 1968 with a single general store in Boone, Iowa, established by Donald F. Lamberti. Casey's General Stores, Inc. has since grown to operate approximately 2,900 stores across 19 states, focusing primarily on small-town America where they are often the main retail hub. Their business model is simple but powerful, combining motor fuel sales with a wide selection of in-store products and, crucially, a robust prepared food program.

Their product mix is what sets them apart. Beyond gasoline and typical convenience items, they are famous for their freshly prepared foods like donuts, hot sandwiches, and their made-from-scratch pizza. This prepared food focus drives higher margins than the fuel business, a smart strategic move. For the full fiscal year 2025, Casey's General Stores, Inc. reported an annual revenue of $15.94 billion.

Here's the quick math on their core offerings:

• Motor fuel (Gasoline and Diesel)
• Prepared foods (Pizza, bakery, sandwiches)
• General merchandise (Beverages, snacks, tobacco)

Record-Breaking Financial Performance in Fiscal 2025

Casey's General Stores, Inc. delivered a record-setting performance in fiscal year (FY) 2025, which ended on April 30, 2025, showing that their strategy of aggressive expansion and food focus is paying off. The company achieved a record net income of $546.5 million, an increase of 8.9% over the prior year. Also, their Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) climbed to $1.2 billion, up 13.3%.

This growth is not just from new stores; it's from better execution in existing ones. Inside same-store sales, a key metric, rose by 2.6% for the full FY 2025. The prepared food segment is the engine here. For the most recent quarter (Q1 FY 2026, ended July 31, 2025), total inside gross profit surged to $705.5 million, a 14.8% jump from the prior year, with inside same-store sales up 4.3%. What this estimate hides is the power of their pizza business, which consistently drives high-margin traffic.

Plus, they are growing their footprint faster than ever. In FY 2025 alone, Casey's General Stores, Inc. built or acquired 270 stores, the largest number in the company's history. This aggressive expansion, including the acquisition of 198 CEFCO locations, positions them for continued market share gains.

An Industry Leader with a Food-First Edge

You should view Casey's General Stores, Inc. not just as a convenience store chain, but as a dominant regional player with a unique competitive advantage. They are currently the third-largest convenience store retailer in the United States by store count. But the real kicker is their prepared food business: they are also the fifth-largest pizza chain in the country.

This dual identity is a powerful driver of their superior financial metrics. Their focus on prepared food and beverage, combined with a highly effective loyalty program boasting over 9 million members, helps push their inside gross margin to a strong 41.5%, which is notably higher than the industry average. Their success is a masterclass in adapting a traditional business model for modern consumer demands. To be fair, maintaining this growth rate while integrating so many new stores will be a challenge, but their track record is strong.

If you want to understand the nuts and bolts of how this company has built such a resilient and high-margin business, you need to dig into the details. Find out more about the operational strategies and revenue streams that make Casey's General Stores, Inc. a compelling case study: Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY) Mission Statement

As a financial analyst, I look at a company's mission statement not as a feel-good plaque, but as a binding contract that guides capital allocation and operational choices. Casey's General Stores, Inc.'s mission is a clear roadmap, explicitly defining its obligations to its three primary stakeholders: guests, team members, and shareowners. It's what drove the company to a record fiscal year 2025, with total revenue hitting $15.941 billion and net income reaching $546.5 million.

That mission is: Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

• To provide quality products at competitive prices with courteous service in clean stores at convenient locations.
• To provide a work environment where employees are treated with respect, dignity and honesty and where high performance is expected and rewarded.
• To provide shareowners with a fair return on investment.

This statement is powerful because it's a direct, measurable commitment. It maps near-term risks and opportunities to clear actions, which is exactly what you need to see as a decision-maker. It's a simple, three-part framework for value creation.

Component 1: The Guest-Centric Promise

The first part of the mission focuses squarely on the customer experience: 'To provide quality products at competitive prices with courteous service in clean stores at convenient locations.' This isn't just about selling gas and snacks; it's a commitment to being a reliable community hub, especially in the smaller towns where Casey's General Stores often operates. The company's strategic focus on prepared foods is a direct, high-margin execution of this promise.

Honestly, the prepared food business is the secret weapon here. Inside sales, which includes their famous pizza, account for roughly two-thirds of their gross profit, a huge number that distinguishes them from a typical gas station operator. This commitment to quality food is why they are now the fifth-largest pizza chain in the United States. Plus, the expansion to 2,904 stores by the end of fiscal year 2025, including the major acquisition of Fikes Wholesale and its 198 CEFCO stores, shows they are serious about 'convenient locations.'

• Prepared food drives inside sales growth.
• Quality and convenience are the core differentiators.

Component 2: Fostering a Rewarding Work Environment

The second core component addresses the team: 'To provide a work environment where employees are treated with respect, dignity and honesty and where high performance is expected and rewarded.' This is crucial because great service, the kind that keeps customers coming back, doesn't happen without a motivated workforce. Casey's General Stores understands that the employee experience directly translates to the guest experience.

The company grounds this in its Core Values, which they call Casey's CARES: Commitment, Authenticity, Respect, Evolving, and Service. As of April 30, 2025, Casey's General Stores employed 23,338 full-time and 25,934 part-time Team Members. That's a massive workforce, and the 'Evolving' value is key-it signals a willingness to invest in training and career growth pathways, which helps keep turnover lower than the industry average. If you don't feel respected, you defintely won't deliver courteous service.

• Core Values (Casey's CARES) define internal culture.
• Respect and rewards are essential for high performance.

Component 3: Delivering Shareowner Value

The final, and for investors, most tangible part of the mission is the promise: 'To provide shareowners with a fair return on investment.' This is the financial analyst's bottom line, and Casey's General Stores has been delivering. For fiscal year 2025, the company reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $14.64, an increase of 9% over the prior year.

Here's the quick math: The company's strategic plan through fiscal year 2026 targets an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) growth of 8% to 10% annually, but management has already raised its guidance, now expecting EBITDA to grow by 10% to 12%. This aggressive, yet realistic, growth is fueled by their plan to add approximately 500 stores through new builds and acquisitions. A fair return isn't just a dividend; it's a commitment to accretive growth and operational excellence, which is exactly what a $1.2 billion EBITDA signals.

• FY2025 diluted EPS was $14.64.
• EBITDA growth guidance is now 10% to 12%.

Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY) Vision Statement

You're looking for the blueprint, the north star that guides Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY) through a volatile retail market. The company doesn't publish a single, snappy vision statement in the traditional sense, but as an analyst, I see a clear, actionable vision in their corporate purpose and aggressive strategy: to be the essential, community-focused market leader, driven by prepared food and rapid expansion. This implicit vision is what allowed them to report a record fiscal year 2025, with Net Income hitting $546.5 million, an 8.9% jump from the prior year.

The real story isn't just a number; it's how they map their mission to that growth. Here's the quick math: you grow by being indispensable in your market, and that means delivering on three core mission pillars-customers, employees, and shareholders-all while living their 'Casey's CARES' values.

The Implicit Vision: Essential Market Leadership and Community Impact

Casey's corporate purpose-to make life better for communities and guests every day-is the closest thing to a vision statement. It's a trend-aware realist view, recognizing that in the small towns where two-thirds of their stores operate, they are often the only game in town for fuel, groceries, and a hot meal. Their actions back this up: they are aggressively expanding, adding 270 stores in fiscal year 2025 alone, the most in company history, which included the acquisition of 198 CEFCO convenience stores. This isn't just adding locations; it's cementing market dominance in their niche, pushing toward an explicit goal of 500 new units over their strategic plan period.

This is a smart play. They're buying market share and scale, but still keeping that local, community-hub focus. That's how you generate an EBITDA of $1.2 billion in a single year, up 13.3%.

Mission Pillar 1: Customer Focus and Operational Excellence

The first part of the mission is simple: 'To provide quality products at competitive prices with courteous service in clean stores at convenient locations.' This is where the rubber meets the road. The company's focus on prepared food-especially their made-from-scratch pizza-is the key differentiator. They've installed full kitchens in almost all Casey's-branded stores to support this.

This food focus is a financial engine. Inside same-store sales were up 1.7% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, with an inside margin of 41.2%. That's a strong margin, and it's driven by high-margin items like hot food and bakery products. Plus, their Casey's Rewards program has grown to over 9 million members, which is a massive, defintely sticky customer base.

• Deliver quality food, not just gas.
• Grow Rewards to lock in loyalty.
• Maintain high 41.2% inside margin.

Mission Pillar 2: Employee Empowerment and Culture

The second mission component addresses the internal engine: 'To provide a work environment where employees are treated with respect, dignity and honesty and where high performance is expected and rewarded.' This isn't corporate fluff; it's a risk mitigation strategy in a tight labor market.

They've codified their culture in the 'Casey's CARES' core values, which are: Commitment, Authenticity, Respect, Evolving, and Service. The focus on 'Evolving' is particularly important, showing a willingness to adapt operations, which is critical when you're integrating 198 new CEFCO stores from a major acquisition. They are actively working on their Team Member Value Proposition (TMVP) with clear pillars like Career Growth and Well-being, which includes providing market-competitive pay and benefits. You can read more about their operational history and how this mission works at Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

Mission Pillar 3: Shareowner Value and Financial Discipline

Finally, the mission promises: 'To provide shareowners with a fair return on investment.' This is the bottom line, and the company delivered in fiscal year 2025. Diluted Earnings Per Share (EPS) rose 9.0% to $14.64. This growth is a direct result of the operational excellence and expansion strategy.

The company maintains a strong balance sheet, which is key for funding their aggressive expansion. They finished the year with a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of just 1.9x. That low ratio gives them a lot of dry powder for future growth or to weather any near-term economic risks. They also increased their quarterly dividend by 14% to $0.57 per share, marking the 26th consecutive annual increase. That's a powerful signal to shareholders about management's confidence in sustained cash flow. Total Revenue for the year was approximately $15.94 billion.

Core Values: Casey's CARES in Action

The Casey's CARES values are the behavioral guardrails for the entire organization, from the Store Support Center to the 2,904 stores. They are action-oriented:

• C - Commitment: Work hard to be the best and have fun.
• A - Authenticity: Be true to their roots with high integrity.
• R - Respect: Treat people the way they want to be treated.
• E - Evolving: Driven to build a better future for the business.
• S - Service: Put service first for guests and communities.

What this estimate hides is the integration risk of such a large acquisition, but the focus on 'Evolving' and 'Service' suggests a cultural framework to manage that transition effectively. That's what you want to see: a culture that supports the strategy.

Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY) Core Values

You're looking past the quarterly noise and into the bedrock of Casey's General Stores, Inc.-their values. That's the right move. As an analyst for two decades, I've seen how a clear, actionable set of core values, like Casey's CARES framework, directly maps to financial performance and sustainable growth. It's not just corporate fluff; it's the operating manual.

The company's values-Commitment, Authenticity, Respect, Evolving, and Service-are what allowed them to deliver a record fiscal year 2025. Here's the quick math: their net income for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2025, hit $546.5 million, an 8.9% increase over the prior year, showing these values aren't just posters on the wall; they're driving the bottom line.

Commitment

Commitment, for Casey's General Stores, Inc., means working hard to be the best and having a good time doing it. In financial terms, this translates to aggressive, profitable expansion and a dedication to shareholder returns. They are committed to their strategic growth plan, and the numbers from fiscal year 2025 prove they are executing on it.

This commitment is most visible in their physical footprint and their financial discipline.

• Opened or acquired 270 new stores in fiscal year 2025, the most in the Company's history, bringing the total store count to 2,904 locations.
• Achieved $1.2 billion in Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA), a 13.3% jump from the previous year.
• Increased the quarterly dividend by 14% to $0.57 per share, marking the 26th consecutive annual increase for shareholders.

That kind of dividend track record is a defintely strong signal of long-term financial commitment.

Authenticity

Authenticity means being true to their roots by having high integrity and being low ego. For Casey's General Stores, Inc., this is all about their deep connection to the small towns they serve. They are a community cornerstone, not just another chain, and their business model reflects this focus on rural America.

The company operates about two-thirds of its stores in areas with populations of 20,000 or fewer, which is a massive commitment to a market many national chains overlook. This focus on being the authentic local option is why their prepared food and dispensed beverage items are so critical; they generated approximately 63% of the company's revenue less cost of goods sold for the year, with a margin percentage of about 58%. They sell the food people in these communities actually want, like their famous pizza, and that's authentic to their market.

Respect

Respect is about treating people the way they want to be treated, which applies equally to customers and the nearly 50,000 people who work there. A company's employee base is its most valuable asset, and Casey's General Stores, Inc. is a major employer across its operating states.

As of April 30, 2025, the company employed 23,338 full-time and 25,934 part-time Team Members, totaling 49,272 people. Respect in this context means providing a clear career path, which they formalize in their Team Member Value Proposition pillars like Career Growth and Well-being. Also, treating your shareowners with respect means consistent returns, which is why the 14% dividend increase matters. It shows respect for the capital entrusted to them. For a deeper dive on the financial side of this, you should look at Breaking Down Casey's General Stores, Inc. (CASY) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Evolving

Evolving means being driven to build a better future for themselves and for the business. This is where you see the company adapting to shifting consumer and technology trends, ensuring they don't become a relic in the rapidly changing convenience store space.

The most concrete example of this evolution is their digital strategy and their adoption of new energy solutions:

• The Casey's Rewards program grew to over 9 million members by the end of fiscal year 2025, showing a strong shift toward digital engagement and loyalty.
• The company is actively progressing with the implementation of an electric vehicle (EV) strategy, a necessary evolution to stay relevant in the fuel retail industry.
• The acquisition of 198 CEFCO convenience stores from Fikes Wholesale was a major part of the 270 new stores in FY 2025, a strategic evolution of their growth model to include significant M&A.

They're not waiting for the future; they are building it one store and one app update at a time.

Service

Service is putting service first and taking pride in caring for guests, communities, and each other. This is the value that ties directly into their corporate purpose: to make life better for communities and guests every day. This commitment is quantified through their community impact programs.

In fiscal year 2025, Casey's General Stores, Inc. donated a total of $6.6 million toward core needs in its communities, showing a clear financial investment in this value. Two major initiatives stand out:

• The annual register campaign in 2025 to support Feeding America provided more than 8.6 million meals to nearly 60 food banks across their operating states.
• The Cash for Classrooms annual campaign raised $1.3 million for schools, helping fund everything from technology upgrades to physical improvements.

That level of community service is a strategic advantage, especially in the smaller markets where they operate.