Aug 13, 2026 earnings call — Record quarter and raised annual EBITDA outlook
Yesway raised full year adjusted EBITDA outlook to $235 million to $245 million.
Revenue $0.9B (est $0.8B) · EPS $0.52 (est $0.47)
Key quotes
"We've increased our full year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to $235 million to $245 million, up from our prior outlook of $210 million to $220 million, reflecting our strong second quarter performance."
"During the second quarter, we opened 1 new store, bringing our total store count to 450. We remain on track to deliver our outlook of 6 to 8 stores in 2026."
"Total fuel margin per gallon increased 27.4% year-over-year to $0.526 per gallon, driven by elevated fuel price volatility, increasing margin spreads between diesel and gas and continued mix shift towards diesel."
Analyst Q&A 8
M&A vs building new stores
Q (John Heinbockel · Guggenheim): Analyst asked how the company prioritizes M&A versus new-to-industry (NTI) builds and what gates those choices. He also asked about progress and opportunity in the loyalty program and inside-store conversion.
A: Management said they are pursuing both M&A and new builds and choose by math: they're targeting 15% unlevered and have been achieving much higher unlevered IRRs on new builds and build-to-suits. They emphasized focus in four states (Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma) and said their 5-year new-store outlook assumes only new builds. On loyalty, they said loyalty was fairly steady in Q2 and they are working to convert fuel loyalists into more store spend, noting the professional driver tier spends about 3x more in the store.
"We're targeting 15% unlevered and achieving 50% unlevered IRRs on our new builds without the build-to-suit platform and upwards of 30%, in some cases, higher on the build-to-suits." — Thomas Trkla (CEO·CHAIR)
Customer behavior and pricing
Q (Seth Sigman · Barclays): Analyst asked if customer behavior has changed recently, noting inside comp moderation and asking about traffic and trading down. He also asked about the pricing changes rolled out and customer response.
A: They said Q2 had modestly lower traffic year-over-year but July same-store inside merchandise sales are trending slightly ahead of Q2. They are not seeing meaningful trading down inside the store, only slight movement from premium to mid-grade fuel, and noted positive fuel gallons in July. On pricing, they said they took price in 2025 and early 2026, implemented changes strategically, and customer reaction has been very positive; they also highlighted they did not raise price on their burrito.
"We did see modestly lower traffic in the second quarter on a year-over-year basis." — Ericka Ayles (CFO)
Menu cleanup and labor model
Q (Robert Griffin · Raymond James): Analyst asked where the menu optimization effort stands, its timeline, and what will be done with savings. He also asked about comfortable leverage for acquisitions.
A: They said menu optimization is ongoing with the bulk completed by year-end, focusing on low-selling items and SKU clean-up; they expect a modest new item in Q4 and continued rollouts into 2027. They emphasized their labor model as a differentiator (2.6 employees per store supporting the burrito volume). On leverage, they said any increase would be temporary for an acquisition, noted available revolver capacity and cash, and that large tuck-ins could be cash-funded with no additional debt.
"We believe one of our primary differentiators is our labor model, 2.6 employees per store to sell those 24 million burritos." — Thomas Trkla (CEO·CHAIR)
Traffic, fuel margin, new store productivity
Q (Uriel Zachary Abraham · Morgan Stanley): Analyst asked whether traffic is positive and if traffic should improve this year. He also asked about sustainability of new store productivity strength.
A: They said Q2 had modestly lower traffic and they don't have July traffic figures to share, but same-store inside merchandise sales in July were slightly ahead of Q2. They reported positive fuel gallons in July and fuel margin in July remained elevated around the mid-$0.40 range. For new stores, they said NTIs continue to grow faster and new builds keep increasing productivity more than legacy stores, helped by fuel projects like expansions and dispenser upgrades.
"But what I can tell you is same-store inside merchandise sales were growing in July, slightly ahead of where Q2 landed." — Ericka Ayles (CFO)
Guidance and fuel balancing
Q (Ethan Huntley · Goldman Sachs): Analyst asked why the EBITDA raise implies much lower growth in H2 versus H1 and whether guidance is conservative. He also asked how they balance fuel volumes and margins and recent investments.
A: They said guidance assumes low $0.40 CPG for the back half and they will not underwrite elevated fuel margin; if fuel outperformance continues that would be upside. They described investments in legacy stores—45 pump changeouts, 6 fuel expansions, and 5 NTIs added—and said those actions support gallons while seeking highest gross profit dollars without hurting customers.
"So for our guidance, we are assuming, as I mentioned, low $0.40 CPG for the back half of the year." — Ericka Ayles (CFO)
Inside merchandise margin and fuel outlook
Q (Bradley Thomas · KeyBanc): Analyst asked about the opportunity to further expand inside merchandise margins going forward. He also asked about thinking of a floor or mean-reversion level for fuel margins.
A: They said gross profit margin percentage has grown over the last couple of years driven by strategic pricing and higher foodservice contribution, especially in new-to-industry stores, and that the team focuses daily on margin expansion. On fuel, they would not project CPG but noted CPG trends with inflation long-term, their 38% diesel mix (rising) and geography help deliver higher margins, and new builds have over 40% diesel which they expect to be a structural advantage.
"So we are really proud of the growth in the gross profit margin percentage over the last couple of years." — Ericka Ayles (CFO)
Guidance increase drivers
Q (Thomas Palmer · JPMorgan): Analyst asked how much of the guidance raise was driven by Q2 versus pulling performance into H2, and whether momentum is being carried forward.
A: They declined to give quarterly guidance but said continued momentum and July results give confidence for H2: fuel margin remained elevated, gallons were positive, and same-store results are trending higher than Q2. They also highlighted strong expense control and continued inside margin improvements, while reiterating fuel margin is the main H2 uncertainty.
"So we're certainly not going to try to get into quarterly guidance here." — Ericka Ayles (CFO)
Pipeline, store count, and financing mix
Q (Kelly Bania · BMO): Analyst asked for more specifics on the pipeline into 2027, number and quality of stores, and whether financing mix (build-to-suit vs owner-owned) might change given strong cash.
A: They said they feel very confident they'll exceed the 130-store target and will demonstrably increase both builds and acquisitions next year, with a strong pipeline for both. They plan to deploy excess cash into EBITDA-producing opportunities, will continue to use a mix (short-term leaning to build-to-suits while keeping majority ownership of stores at about 65%-66%), and have moved some build-to-suits to NTIs to deploy cash sooner; they will keep the majority owned.
"I'll reiterate that we feel very confident we'll exceed the 130-store target that we have and that we will increase demonstrably the number of stores we both build and buy next year, okay?" — Thomas Trkla (CEO·CHAIR)