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Dan Loeb Just Endorsed Pizza at the Pump: Why He’s Bullish on Casey’s General Stores (NASDAQ: CASY)
Casey’s General Stores: The Only Gas Station Where Hedge Fund Managers Grab Pizza
If you’ve ever road-tripped through the Midwest and ended up at a clean-looking gas station with a full-blown kitchen inside, congrats—you’ve met Casey’s (NASDAQ: CASY). Headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa, Casey’s operates over 2,500 convenience stores across 16 states, with a winning formula built on three things:
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Fresh food (yes, including shockingly good pizza)
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Community loyalty in rural and suburban America
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A hybrid model that straddles fuel, grocery, and quick-service restaurant economics
Think of it as the Midwestern love child of 7-Eleven, Domino’s, and Dollar General. And according to legendary investor Dan Loeb, it’s just getting started.
Dan Loeb’s Pizza Thesis (Seriously)
In his July 30 investor letter, Dan Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point revealed it had increased its stake in Casey’s and gave the stock a glowing endorsement that read more like a love letter to entrepreneurial capitalism:
“In Casey’s we see a world class management team with a differentiated mousetrap and a decade of profitable growth ahead of them—whether they are labeled a restaurant or a gas station or a general store is semantics.”
Translation: Call it whatever you want. The business works.
Why Dan Loeb Loves Casey’s
1. It’s a Business, Not a Buzzword
Wall Street loves to argue over labels—consumer staples, restaurants, convenience, retail. Casey’s doesn’t care. They just rake in revenue. In FY 2024, the company generated over $15 billion in sales and grew adjusted EBITDA by double digits. Loeb’s point? You can’t pigeonhole greatness.
2. Best-in-Class Management
CEO Darren Rebelez (former president of IHOP and executive at 7-Eleven) has executed a high-conviction, high-efficiency playbook: automate, scale, and serve damn good pizza. Loeb loves management teams that play offense in overlooked markets—and Casey’s fits that profile to a tee.
3. Insane Brand Loyalty in Rural America
You know who doesn’t have a Whole Foods or Chick-fil-A nearby? Small-town Missouri. You know who does have a Casey’s? Literally every county. Their stores are often the only game in town—and the community doesn’t just shop there, they rely on it.
4. Pizza as a Platform
Casey’s sells over 30 million pizzas per year, making it the fifth-largest pizza chain in the U.S. That’s not a typo. Third Point’s thesis isn’t just “gas station snacks are resilient”—it’s “this company sells food so well, they make Domino’s nervous.”
What It Means for Investors
– Secular Growth Meets Defensive Footing
Casey’s is a rare breed: it grows like a discretionary stock, but it trades like a consumer staple. Its product mix is recession-resistant (fuel + food), and its margins have improved even as inflation hits wallets.
– Valuation Still Reasonable
Despite strong performance, CASY trades at a discount to restaurant peers on EV/EBITDA and lags behind names like Domino’s on a price-to-sales basis—even though its unit economics are comparable (or better) in many small towns.
– Potential for Expansion
Loeb sees a decade of growth—and he’s not wrong. Casey’s has whitespace for hundreds more stores, plus opportunities to improve digital ordering, loyalty programs, and private-label products.
Final Slice: Why Casey’s Is More Than Gas Station Pizza
Dan Loeb isn’t buying CASY for nostalgia. He’s buying it because it’s a cash-flowing machine with restaurant-quality margins, grocery-store volume, and fuel-station frequency. And unlike the AI darlings of the day, Casey’s doesn’t need a new narrative every quarter.
It just needs to keep the ovens hot and the gas pumps working.
Want to invest like Dan Loeb? Maybe start by buying a slice.
Because in 2025, gas station pizza might just beat your favorite growth stock.
DISCLAIMER: This analysis of the aforementioned stock security is in no way to be construed, understood, or seen as formal, professional, or any other form of investment advice. We are simply expressing our opinions regarding a publicly traded entity.
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