Yesway Reports Q2 2026 Results: Full Earnings Call Transcript

Yesway (NASDAQ:YSWY) held its second-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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The full earnings call is available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/2bk3cm5v/

Summary

Yesway Inc. reported its strongest quarter in history with record performance across several key operating and financial measures, including a 35% year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA to $71 million.

The company raised its full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to $235 million to $245 million, up from the prior outlook of $210 million to $220 million, citing strong second-quarter results and continued momentum.

Strategic initiatives include expanding the store network with a focus on Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas, and enhancing fuel capabilities and merchandise offerings to drive customer traffic and loyalty.

Yesway plans to open 6 to 8 new stores in 2026 and is pursuing selective, accretive acquisitions, supported by significant cash generation and increased financial flexibility.

The company's foodservice platform, particularly the Allsup's iconic burrito, continues to be a key traffic driver, and Yesway is optimizing its menu to focus on high-demand items.

Fuel margins increased significantly, driven by elevated fuel price volatility and a strategic focus on diesel, which now represents 38% of total fuel volume.

Management expressed confidence in achieving a target of 130 new stores over the next four and a half years and is leveraging strong cash flow to support growth opportunities.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Welcome to the Yesway Inc. second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star 11 on your touchtone telephone. We ask that you limit yourselves to one question and a follow-up. Please be advised today's conference call is being recorded. I would like to turn the call over to Nicole Harlow, Investor Relations Representative.

Please go ahead.

Nicole Harlow, Investor Relations Representative

Thank you, Operator, and thank you all for joining us today for Yesway's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. On with me today are Tom Turkla, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Erica Ailes, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, a reminder that today's discussion will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements made today are based on management's current expectations, assumptions, and beliefs about our business and the environment in which we operate.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from what is expressed or implied. These risks include, but are not limited to, volatility in global oil prices, general economic conditions, our ability to execute on our growth strategy, and changes in consumer demand and fuel consumption trends. For a detailed discussion of risks, please see our final prospectus dated April 21, 2026, as filed with the SEC on April 23, 2026, and our other filings with the SEC.

Our forward-looking statements made on this call represent our outlook as of today, August 13, 2026, and we disclaim any obligation to update these statements except as may be required by law. In addition, during this conference call we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA and store contribution. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in our second quarter 2026 earnings press release, which was issued earlier this morning and is available on the Investor Relations section of our website.

A replay of today's call will also be available on the same website shortly after we conclude the Q&A session. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Tom Turkla.

Tom Trkla, Executive Chairman and CEO

Thank you, Nicole, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We are pleased with the strong performance we delivered in the second quarter, and I look forward to discussing our results and the progress we are making on our growth priorities on today's call. First, I want to remind everyone what makes Yesway fundamentally different and why we believe our platform is well positioned for continued growth. Since our founding more than a decade ago, we built a distinctive convenience retail platform around a combination of trusted regional brands, destination foodservice, disciplined real estate development, differentiated fuel offerings, and an award‑winning loyalty program. Today, Yesway is one of the fastest‑growing convenience store operators in the United States and the nation's 15th‑largest convenience store chain. Our portfolio is anchored by two powerful and highly complementary brands, Yesway and Allsup's. Both continue to have deep roots in the communities we serve, strong customer recognition, and enduring loyalty. This local connection is difficult to replicate and provides us with an important competitive advantage, particularly in the rural and suburban markets where we operate.

We are also much more than a convenient stop for fuel and everyday necessities. In many of our markets, we are a true foodservice destination. Allsup's iconic, world‑famous beef and bean burrito, together with our broader prepared food and proprietary merchandise offerings, remain a compelling reason for customers to visit our stores frequently and distinguishes us from the traditional fuel‑oriented competitors. Our foodservice platform drives traffic throughout the day, supports attractive merchandising margins, and strengthens the relevance of our brands.

Our deep real estate expertise represents another significant differentiator. We've assembled and built a portfolio of strategically located stores across the Southwest and Midwest, often situated on oversized parcels with strong visibility, convenient access, and favorable traffic patterns. These sites provide the capacity to expand our forecourts, add dedicated high‑flow diesel lanes, and introduce larger‑format stores with enhanced foodservice and merchandise offerings.

This real estate advantage also supports our fuel strategy. Greater diesel capacity enables us to serve both local customers and over‑the‑road professional drivers, broadening our addressable market and increasing fuel volumes. Diesel demand also tends to be less price sensitive during periods of elevated fuel prices, providing an additional measure of resilience in volatile market environments. Taken together, our trusted brands, destination foodservice platform, strategically advantaged real estate, growing diesel exposure, strong customer loyalty, and proven operating capabilities form an integrated platform that is both differentiated and difficult to replicate. We believe these advantages will continue to drive repeat visits, attractive store‑level economics, and sustainable long‑term value for our shareholders. Turning now to our second quarter performance, which was the strongest quarter in our company's history, reflecting broad‑based execution across both fuel and inside merchandising, we set new records across several of our most important operating and financial measures, including fuel gallons, fuel gross profit, inside merchandise sales, inside merchandise gross profit, and store contribution.

This operating momentum drove adjusted EBITDA to $71 million, an increase of 35% year over year. The most important takeaway is that these results were not dependent on any single factor and that the quality of the quarter was as strong as the headline results. We grew both fuel volumes and inside merchandise sales while expanding margins and generating greater profitability. These results underscore the strength and breadth of our platform, the advantages of our differentiated market positioning, the resilience of our business model amid continued inflationary pressures and volatile fuel markets, and the disciplined execution of our team.

Let me highlight several key aspects of our second quarter performance. Same‑store inside merchandise sales increased 1.2%, marking positive growth in 18 of the past 19 quarters. Excluding the 29 stores in our Iowa and Kansas portfolio, which we expect to close the sale of by year‑end, same‑store merchandise sales increased 1.5%. Same‑store fuel gallons increased 1.4% year over year, and again, excluding the 29 stores in our Iowa and Kansas portfolio, same‑store fuel gallons sold increased 1.8%.

According to OPIS data, the change in our same‑store fuel gallons sold significantly outperformed the change in volume per outlet in our core markets, which we believe is a clear data point we are gaining market share while also delivering stronger margins. Our value proposition continues to resonate, and we remain competitive in the communities we serve. Total fuel margin per gallon increased 27.4% year over year to 52.6 cents per gallon, driven by elevated fuel price volatility, increasing margin spreads between diesel and gas, and continued mix shift towards diesel.

Importantly, we achieved this margin expansion while also growing volume. Robust store contributions supported adjusted EBITDA growth of 35% year over year to $71 million. On the strength of our second quarter performance, we are raising our adjusted EBITDA outlook for full year 2026, which Erika will discuss later in this call. Our growth strategy remains disciplined and focused on three priorities: developing new stores, increasing the productivity of our existing store base, and pursuing selective, value‑accretive acquisitions.

Starting with new store development, we have now built 92 stores since 2020 through our new‑to‑industry store developments and raze‑and‑rebuild programs. This experience, together with our real estate experience, enables us to identify the markets, sites, and formats with the greatest potential to generate attractive store‑level returns. During the second quarter, we opened one new store, bringing our total store count to 450. We remain on track to deliver an outlook of 6 to 8 stores in 2026.

As a reminder, today's reported store count includes the 29 stores in our Iowa and Kansas portfolio that we have agreed to sell as part of our strategy to sharpen operational focus, simplify our supply chain footprint, and reinforce our concentration in core operating markets. We are pleased with the progress on this transaction and remain on track to close the sale by the end of 2026. Looking ahead, our new‑build expansion strategy is currently concentrated on four core states: Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas, with Arizona being a key near‑term development priority.

Arizona is a natural extension of our southwestern footprint and offers attractive fuel market dynamics, meaningful development opportunities, and strong receptivity to our foodservice offering. We believe our operating model is particularly well suited to the state's rural and suburban communities, and we are encouraged by the momentum we are building as we advance our pipeline of new locations. Beyond new store development, we see opportunity to generate additional growth and improve returns across our existing store base.

Our organic growth initiatives are centered on two principal areas: expanding our fuel capabilities and strengthening our merchandise and foodservice offerings. Together, these initiatives are designed to increase customer traffic, deepen loyalty, grow same‑store sales, and improve store‑level productivity over time. In fuel, we are upgrading dispensers, adding new dispensers, and adding new diesel capacity across many of our existing locations. Our newer stores feature expanded forecourts and dedicated high‑flow diesel lanes, supporting growth in commercial diesel. These efforts drive total fuel gallon growth and continue to drive mix shift towards diesel, which now represents approximately 38% of our total fuel volume compared to the NACS average of 27%. Within inside merchandise, foodservice remains one of our most important traffic drivers and competitive differentiators. The iconic Allsup's burrito remains the cornerstone of our offering and continues to drive customer traffic and repeat visits.

We are also rationalizing our lower‑velocity foodservice SKUs to reduce complexity, simplify store‑level execution, improve product consistency, and concentrate our resources on the products that resonate most strongly with our customers. At the same time, we continue to evaluate opportunities to innovate and selectively expand our foodservice offering. Within private label, we are expanding our higher‑margin offerings in categories we can provide customers with a compelling combination of quality and value.

These products strengthen our overall value proposition and complement our broader assortment of freshly prepared food, grocery items, beverages, and snacks, enabling us to meet a wide range of customer needs throughout the day. Our third avenue for growth is selective, accretive M&A. Since our founding, we have demonstrated our ability to source, integrate, and create value from M&A, having acquired more than 400 convenience stores through 27 transactions and establishing a strong foundation of experience and operating capabilities that we can apply to future opportunities.

We continue to evaluate acquisition opportunities that increase our density in existing markets or extend our brand portfolio into other strategically attractive markets. Continued fuel margin strength has supported significant cash generation, increasing our financial flexibility to fund our organic growth initiatives and pursue acquisitions when compelling opportunities meet our disciplined investment and return criteria. With that, I will now turn the call over to Erika, who will provide a more detailed review of our second quarter results and updated full‑year financial outlook.

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks, Tom, and good morning, everyone. As Tom mentioned, we delivered another strong quarter, including record performance across several key measures. Inside merchandise sales increased to 240 million, representing growth of 4.4% year over year, or 1.2% on a same-store basis. Excluding our Iowa and Kansas portfolio, same-store inside merchandise sales growth would have been 1.5% despite higher fuel prices resulting in modestly lower traffic. According to Nielsen data, we gained share in both merchandise sales and units, demonstrating the strength of our value proposition and customer loyalty.

We continued to deliver inside merchandise margin expansion versus prior year; total inside merchandise margin expanded by approximately 50 basis points to 35.7% from 35.2% in the prior-year period. As a result of the continued store growth and the pricing actions taken during 2025 on fuel, sales increased 52.7% year over year to 673 million. Fuel margin was 52.6 cents per gallon compared to 41.3 cents per gallon in Q2 last year. This increased margin was supported by our structural advantages in diesel and the benefits of elevated fuel price volatility.

During the quarter, same-store fuel gallons sold remained resilient despite higher fuel prices and continued fuel market volatility, increasing 1.4% year over year during the quarter. Excluding our Iowa and Kansas portfolio, same-store gallons sold would have increased 1.8% year over year. Our gallon growth was driven by diesel contribution at our new-to-industry builds, while our legacy store gallon growth was supported by operational initiatives including dispenser change-outs and fuel expansions.

Notably, as Tom mentioned earlier, the change in our same-store gallons sold outperformed the change in volume per outlet in our core markets. During the second quarter, diesel represented approximately 38% of total fuel volume. Our diesel mix is meaningfully higher than that of many traditional convenience retailers, reflecting our rural and suburban footprint and presence along commercial and regional transportation routes, and our intentional focus to increase diesel gallons across our footprint.

Our focus on the diesel platform also benefits inside merchandise sales, as fleet drivers purchase more than three times as much inside the store on average as our typical loyalty customer. As discussed in our last call, geopolitical developments in the Middle East continue to create elevated fuel price volatility, resulting in higher fuel margins. While we recognize that this incremental benefit may moderate, Yesway has historically generated CPG margins above broader market levels, and we believe our favorable diesel mix, strategic footprint, and supplier relationships position us to sustain attractive fuel profitability as market conditions normalize. We achieved total same-store fuel and inside merchandise gross profit growth of 14% year over year, with same-store fuel gross profit and same-store inside merchandise gross profit increasing 29% and 2.5%, respectively, from the prior year. We continue to be disciplined on the management of store-level expenses. Same-store operating expenses increased by 4.8% year over year, primarily driven by credit card fees, which accounted for approximately 96% of the increase.

Same-store labor hours declined 2.4% during the quarter, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of reductions while maintaining high operating standards and supporting the customer experience. The standardized process, employee training, and leading technology we have established across our store base allows certain locations to operate with a single employee during non-peak hours. Store contribution increased 29.5% year over year to 88 million. The increase was primarily driven by the increase in fuel margin and inside merchandise margin from same-store sales, and increases in fuel gallons and inside merchandise sales from new stores.

Net income was 30 million compared to 24 million in the prior period. Adjusted EBITDA increased 35% year over year to 71 million, reflecting similar drivers as store contribution. As a result, we are increasing our adjusted EBITDA outlook for the full year, which we will touch on shortly. During the quarter, we opened one new store, ending the period with 450 stores. As a reminder, our reported store count still includes our Iowa and Kansas portfolio.

Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of 82 million and total debt, including financing obligations and financing lease obligations, of 618 million. Net cash provided by operating activities was 57 million compared to 36 million in the prior-year period. Capital expenditures totaled approximately 24 million compared to 22 million in the prior-year period. As Tom discussed, our strong operating performance and cash generation provide us with flexibility to deploy capital consistent with our key priorities: number one, investing in organic growth; number two, maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet; and number three, selective and opportunistic M&A. Our first priority is investing in high-return organic growth opportunities. Our cash position gives us the capacity to accelerate select new store, remodel, foodservice, and technology investments where we see compelling returns. Our second priority is maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet. Through June 30, 2026, we have repaid 40 million of debt, including 10 million repaid with IPO proceeds.

Our third priority is selective and opportunistic M&A. The convenience store industry remains highly fragmented, and we continue to evaluate acquisition opportunities that increase density in existing markets, expand our presence in attractive geographies, and strengthen our brand portfolio. We will remain disciplined and intend to deploy capital only where we see compelling risk-adjusted returns. Turning to our outlook, our full-year expectations reflect the strong first-half performance, continued operating momentum, and our current expectation for the remainder of the year.

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. While we do not provide a fuel margin forecast, as this is difficult to predict—particularly in volatile markets—our outlook for adjusted EBITDA assumes that fuel margins moderate in the low 40 cent per gallon range for the second half of the year, consistent with our historical average.

We have also reaffirmed our outlook for the following metrics: same-store inside merchandise sales growth of 1.25% to 3.25%, and capital expenditures of 85 to 95 million. With respect to new stores, we continue to expect to open six to eight new stores in 2026, inclusive of the two stores we opened during the first half of the year. As a reminder, our guidance assumes our Iowa and Kansas portfolio sale is completed by year-end. While a sustained period of elevated fuel prices may add some pressure to the inside merchandise sales in the near term, incremental cash generation from higher fuel margin would support acceleration of our growth investments while maintaining our strong balance sheet, positioning us well for the long term. The convenience store industry is essential and has experienced consistent growth for decades. It has proven resilient through challenging macroeconomic periods including recessions, financial crises, and the COVID pandemic, and we remain confident in the long-term growth opportunities that lie ahead. Overall, we are pleased with the performance through the first half of 2026.

We continue to generate strong cash flow, reduce leverage, and invest in the long-term growth of the business. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Tom for closing remarks.

Tom Trkla, Executive Chairman and CEO

Thank you very much, Erica. To close, we are excited to report another quarter of strong performance, reinforcing the momentum in our business as we continue to strengthen our differentiated offering, strong service culture, and disciplined approach to capital allocation. Yesway is well positioned to continue delivering long-term value for our shareholders. Thank you again for joining us today. Operator.

OPERATOR

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 11. If your question has been answered and you'd like to remove yourself from the queue, press star 11 again. Our first question comes from John Heimbuckle with Guggenheim Securities. Your line is open. We also ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up.

John Heimbuckle, Analyst at Guggenheim Securities

Hey Tom, wanted to ask how do you look at M&A versus NTI as priorities or preferences? I know valuation probably plays a role. And then what's the gating factor? You have more capital, real estate's available, the organizational gating factor on growth, because obviously you want to be disciplined in that regard.

Tom Trkla, Executive Chairman and CEO

John, thank you. Great question. As you all know, for historical context we started in the first five years by buying 27 M&A transactions. In the last five years, plus or minus, we've been building. The biggest change is we're now looking to do both. So we're much more active right now in terms of M&A opportunities. The simple answer to your question about which one we choose is really mathematical. 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.

We're looking at both right now in the quarter, and I guess the biggest change from our past five years is we're now much more active in terms of looking at accretive M&A. And the last point I'll make, to reemphasize that which we discussed last call, we're really concentrating on four states: Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. And we believe our entire outlook guidance for new stores—which, by the way, you recall is only new builds; it includes no M&A in terms of our five-year forecast—is all in those four states.

So we feel very confident we've increased the number of opportunities for both and, as we'll talk about later, we feel very confident about hitting the 130 store target that we have in our model.

John Heimbuckle, Analyst at Guggenheim Securities

Maybe my follow-up, where do we stand with the loyalty program? Right, because I know that's been growing, usage has been increasing, and what is the inside comp opportunity to move those members up the loyalty path?

Tom Trkla, Executive Chairman and CEO

Great question, John. Loyalty has been fairly steady in the second quarter. I think the opportunities that we see are really about how do we convert those loyalty customers from fuel into the store on a more strategic basis. So that's something that the team is working on today. As far as a penetration standpoint, as I mentioned, that has been fairly steady. Some of the gains that we've seen have been in the professional driver tier. As we mentioned in our prepared remarks, the professional driver tier is typically spending about three times more in the store.

So we think that continues to be a great opportunity as we attract more of those customers. Thank you. Thank you, John.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Our next question comes from Seth Sigman with Barclays. Your line is open.

Seth Sigman, Analyst at Barclays

Great. Good morning, everyone. Nice quarter. I wanted to ask about the customer and whether you've seen any change in behavior over the last few months. And specifically I'm looking at the 1.2% inside comps, I guess one and a half adjusted. It moderated a little bit from Q1. I think Q1 was maybe around 2.5%. If we adjust for the weather, it's all pretty similar on a two-year basis. So it seems steady. But anything else you can tell us about just behavior and any changes you've seen in the customer?

Thanks so much.

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Great question. So we did see modestly lower traffic in the second quarter on a year-over-year basis. What we have seen in July is same-store inside merchandise sales trending slightly ahead of Q2. So we feel very good about where we stand in that guidance. As far as behavior potentially trading down, we're actually not seeing any meaningful trading down inside the store. We see a little bit here and there, but really nothing that's moving the needle.

Similarly, on the fuel side of the business, we have positive gallons in July. You know, we're seeing very slight trading down from premium to mid-grade at the pump. But obviously that margin expansion is more than making up for that differential. So we're actually not seeing a tremendous amount of behavioral shift other than I did mention that modestly lower traffic.

UNKNOWN Analyst

Okay, very helpful. Thank you for that. And then my follow-up is around pricing. So I think you rolled out some price changes late last year, early this year. Can you just elaborate on that? What's been the response from the customer and then how do we think about sort of the next iteration and anything else as it relates to the pricing strategy? Thank you.

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Sure. Yep. From a pricing standpoint, we did take some price in 2025 and some price in early 2026. The reaction from the customer has been very positive. Those have worked out tremendously well for us, we think. I mentioned on the last call we were very strategic about what we moved and what we didn't. So that has been going, from my perspective, very well. The other thing I would point out is early 2026, some inventory resets that have gone on have also proved very well received as far as shifting some of that SKU optimization that we mentioned, really highlighting and focusing on what the consumers are reaching for and moving out those items that they're not. So we feel very good about that.

Tom Trkla, Executive Chairman and CEO

If I may, Erica, one of the things Erica mentioned before is strategic. It's very important to note we have not touched the golden goose, which is our burrito. We're selling, as you know, about 24, a little over 24 million a year right now. And we see a continued differentiation in price and value between our mainstay product and our competitors. And we think that's largely a driver as well for a lot of our demand inside. And so when Erica said strategic, we looked at the last couple years where we didn't take prices.

We were certainly reacting to increases from our suppliers on an ongoing basis. But this is a proactive move that we made. But it was very, very carefully implemented and we've seen very good results from what Erica said. But we're not touching—we're seeing a further gap between our burrito and its price point, which is our mainstay product. And we don't look at doing that anytime in the future.

UNKNOWN Analyst

Thank you, guys.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Our next question comes from Bobby Griffin with Raymond James. Your line is open.

Bobby Griffin, Analyst at Raymond James

Good morning, guys. Thanks for the questions and congrats on a good second quarter. Tom, I guess I want to start with your comments on the menu optimization and something you guys have talked about before, but can you maybe expand a little bit on where you are in that journey? Is that something that's currently already complete or will be complete by the end of the year and then some of the savings from that, what is some of the plans for that, if that's further pricing or if there's new items to come once you kind of rationalize the menu, where it's at.

Just curious. Anything around there.

Tom Trkla, Executive Chairman and CEO

Sure, it's an ongoing process. It'll always be an ongoing process. But the bulk of what I'm trying to accomplish now will be done by year end. It's basically looking at things where we don't sell a lot of. And as I said, we sell 41 million proprietary products, about 24 million burritos. And so we are basically limiting the price book options of these things and concentrating those things that sell the most of. So that's ongoing right now. It's not a major lift, by the way.

It's not like we sell a million things, cutting down to a few, but it's cleaning up those things that we really don't need to have on the menu because we don't sell a lot of. We did replace a price book manager who's done a spectacular job. And as I think we've talked about in the past, we also inherited an accumulated price book through all the M&A deals. We completed that project as well. And so that's now done. So we now have the back end now set up to be able to handle these things.

And then next, we also have talked about this, which is very important. We believe one of our primary differentiators is our labor model—2.6 employees per store to sell those 24 million burritos. So when we advance foodservice, and we'll talk probably later about private label, we say the word at the margin. So we're not completely changing our foodservice platform, but we are ideating some of the things right now that are accretive and additive around our burrito platform.

And we also expect to have something new—again, not major, but something new—in the fourth quarter and then continue to roll out things into 2027.

Bobby Griffin, Analyst at Raymond James

Very good, that's helpful. And then I guess just secondly from my follow-up, just back to your discussion about M&A. You know, in looking at some of the opportunities and kind of you guys are open to either or—organic or the M&A side—where's the comfort level on leverage for the right deal that you would feel fine taking the business to, to help us kind of level set the models?

Tom Trkla, Executive Chairman and CEO

Sure, we've had that question and we've actually had some input from some of our bankers recently. And Erica, correct me if I'm wrong, but right now we're obviously very good. Right now, Erica's now paid down, or we paid down now, almost depleted our revolver. Right now we're down about $40 million down to, I think, $140 million of available capacity in our revolver and Erica has about $90 million of cash. So we're sitting about a quarter billion dollars of liquidity and we think we probably could go to as high as 4.

Is that about right, Erica, for the right acquisition and then bring it back down? That's what we've been advised. Erica, I don't know if you want to add anything to that.

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Sure, yeah. I think any increase in leverage would obviously be temporary for an acquisition. And what Tom's talking about would be to the extent any larger acquisition came our way, some of these tuck-in acquisitions that we'd be looking at really would have no impact to leverage, if any. It would be cash off our balance sheet, obviously, and no additional debt. But what we're talking about is to the extent a large acquisition came our way that we believe would be accretive, but nothing on the table to talk about today.

Bobby Griffin, Analyst at Raymond James

Very good, thank you. Best of luck here in 3Q. Thanks, Tyler. Thanks, sir.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Our next question comes from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Zach, Analyst at Morgan Stanley (for Simeon Gutman)

Hi, this is Zach on for Simeon. Thanks for taking our questions and great quarter. I just wanted to follow up on the merch comps question. Yeah, of course. So, yeah, following up on the merch comps, are you willing to share whether traffic is positive and do you expect sequential improvement in traffic through the balance of the year?

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

So from Q2, we did have modestly lower traffic in Q2. For July, I don't have traffic information available to share, but what I can tell you is same-store inside merchandise sales were growing in July slightly ahead of where Q2 landed. So we feel very good about that. And then did you catch the fuel information as well, Zach? Did you want me to repeat that?

Zach, Analyst at Morgan Stanley (for Simeon Gutman)

Sure, that would be great.

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Sure. Yeah. So July again, positive fuel gallons in July. And I can just give you an indication of fuel margin for July remained elevated in sort of the mid-40 cent range.

Zach, Analyst at Morgan Stanley (for Simeon Gutman)

Okay, that's helpful. And then I wanted to ask also on new store productivity, it does look like you're making some great progress there. So just curious how we should think about the sustainability of new store productivity and the strength there.

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Sure. What we do see is our new builds are continuing—even when they come into the same-store comp set, they're continuing to increase at a higher growth rate than our legacy portfolio. As I've mentioned in the prepared remarks, we are seeing some great comps on the legacy portfolio as well from some of the levers that we've been pulling. So one of the biggest factors there are some of the fuel projects that we've been working on, so fuel expansions, dispenser upgrades and replacements, etc.

Zach, Analyst at Morgan Stanley (for Simeon Gutman)

Great, thanks.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Our next question comes from Bonnie Herzog with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Ethan Huntley, Analyst at Goldman Sachs (for Bonnie Herzog)

Hi, good morning. This is Ethan Huntley on for Bonnie. Thanks for taking our questions. So you raised your EBITDA guidance today, which was nice to see, but if our math's right, I think it implies just 3% growth at the midpoint in the back half of the year versus 60% plus growth in the first half. I recognize the year-on-year comps become a bit more challenging and guidance implies that fuel margins are likely to step a bit lower in the back half.

But is there anything else underpinning the growth in the second half? Or is there maybe just a bit of conservatism baked into your guidance? Essentially just trying to understand the major puts and takes of your guidance heading into the back half of the year.

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks for the question, Ethan. So for our guidance we are assuming, as I mentioned, low $0.40 CPG for the back half of the year. We will not try to, you know, underwrite any elevated fuel margin in this environment. So, you know, obviously to the extent that the outperformance on fuel margin continues into the back half, that would be the opportunity there for the potential upside. As you do know, Q4 of 26 was a really great quarter, strong fuel margin.

So certainly not trying to be overly conservative, but just recognizing fuel margin projections in the second half of the year will be quite difficult to predict. Overall, we feel really great about what we're seeing so far in the third quarter. As I mentioned, positive gallons, positive same-store, and as I mentioned July same-store inside merchandise sales is actually trending better than what we saw in the results of Q2. So we feel very good about the opportunities ahead of us.

But again, I think the fuel margin will be the question for the second half.

Ethan Huntley, Analyst at Goldman Sachs (for Bonnie Herzog)

Got it, thank you. And maybe just as a follow up, you delivered impressive fuel margins of 52.6 per gallon in Q2 and healthy same-store fuel volumes of 1.4%. I'm just curious if we could touch on how you're balancing fuel volumes and profitability levels. What investments have you made recently to help drive this? And is that balancing act getting a bit more difficult in this current volatile operating environment?

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Great question. On the legacy portfolio, we have been actively investing in that portfolio. As I mentioned, pump change-outs. We've had 45 stores in the last 12 months that have undergone pump change-outs that for us are very measurable support of the portfolio. We've had six fuel expansions. All of that is a reflection of us leaning into the fuel customer. Obviously those fuel expansions are really focused on the diesel customer, so those are certainly helping to drive incremental gallons.

And then we also had five NTIs coming into the comp set in this reporting period. And as I mentioned, those NTIs are continuing to grow at a faster clip. As far as balancing growth on gallons versus overall margin, you know what we are. We obviously have an incredible fuel team that does a great job in all sorts of markets. So, you know, fuel volatility is certainly an opportunity to, you know, those who can do it well make excess margin without, you know, certainly hurting the consumer in any meaningful way.

We want to make sure that we're good stewards to our customers. So we're really trying to focus on delivering the highest gross profit dollars that we're able to while maintaining our gallons.

UNKNOWN Analyst

Great. Thank you very much and good luck the rest of the way here. Thank you.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Our next question comes from Brad Thomas with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Brad Thomas, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets

Good morning. Nice quarter here. I wanted to first ask about the inside merchandise margins. Those continue to be really healthy. Wondering if you could speak to the opportunity to continue to expand those inside merchandise margins in the back half of the year and going forward. Go ahead, Erica.

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Sure. Good question. So we are really proud of the growth in the gross profit margin percentage over the last couple years. A lot of that has been strategic pricing as I mentioned, but also growth of the food service contribution that we've been able to achieve, namely in the new-to-industry stores that we've brought to market. Generally those new-to-industry stores have a higher contribution of higher margin products. So those are certainly helping to drive that up.

And then obviously as we continue to grow, we have economies of scale, but that margin expansion is something that our team focuses on every day.

Brad Thomas, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets

Okay, that's great. And then maybe if I could ask a fuel margin question. This is something not just coming up for Yesway but for the whole industry in our conversations with investors. Just wondering how you're thinking about sort of a floor or a mean reversion level potentially for fuel margins as the Iran overhang gets behind us. And I ask that not just in terms of how maybe we should think about your model for 2027 and beyond, but also maybe how you all are approaching it as you look at acquisitions and have to forecast what you think these chains might be doing in the future.

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Sure, good question. So we won't look to project out, you know, CPG, but I think there's a few things that we can highlight. One, for just historical context, we do see CPG trending in line with inflation over the long term. So we do think that that is likely to expand for the industry over the period. Obviously prior to the Middle East conflict, we were operating in about a low 40 cent per gallon environment, as we've talked about before. Again those new builds and their focus on the diesel customer, again, over the long term, diesel generally is coming in at a higher margin than the gasoline CPG, which is again another reason that we like that.

Specific to Yesway, that is a differentiator for us and where we believe we will settle out. I think as Tom mentioned, we consistently deliver fuel margins that exceed the industry average. So with that 38% diesel mix and growing, we think that will benefit us. And then obviously our geography, so the proximity to our fuel suppliers and those long-term relationships, we certainly think help continue to deliver that higher margin.

Tom Trkla, Executive Chairman and CEO

One thing I'd emphasize as well, we talked about this in the last call, but our new builds are giving us basically over 40% diesel contribution as well as elevated food service contribution. And so the weighted average of our portfolio, especially after we sell Iowa and Kansas, will get to 40, probably exceed 40%, which will give us again a structural advantage over some of our competitors for the diesel contributions of margin. So wherever it settles, we think we'll settle a little higher.

Brad Thomas, Analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets

That's very helpful. Thanks so much.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Our next question comes from Tom Palmer with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Tom Palmer, Analyst at JPMorgan

Good morning and thanks for the question. I wanted to maybe first ask on the guidance increase, $25 million kind of both sides of the range. You noted the strength of 2Q when noting the reason for the increase. But I did want to clarify maybe how much of the raise was actually 2Q versus maybe what you're pulling forward as we think about the back half of the year relative to what prior guidance embedded. Thank you.

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

Hey Tom, thanks for the question. So we're certainly not going to try to get into quarterly guidance here, but what we are seeing is the continued momentum. As I mentioned, July so far with what we can share is giving us confidence in the back half of the year. Fuel margin remained elevated in July, as I mentioned, mid 40 cent, positive gallons, positive same stores, which are trending higher than what we saw in Q2. I think we've also done a really great job on expense control, and as we think about our inside margin, we've continued to deliver some margin increase over each prior-year quarter.

So we feel very good about it. Again, I think as we think about the second half of the year, it's really about where does fuel margin fall in the second half. But we do feel pretty good about what we're seeing so far for the third quarter.

Tom Palmer, Analyst at JPMorgan

Great, thank you. I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

OPERATOR

Thank you. Our next question comes from Kelly Vanya with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Kelly Vanya, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets

Good morning, Tom and Erica, thanks for taking our question. Tom, you expressed continued confidence in the new store growth outlook over the coming years. But I was just wondering if you could be more specific on the pipeline into 2027 and the number of stores, the visibility there, the quality locations, and if there's any thought on changing the mix of financing the new stores either built-to-suit or the owner-owned structure given the continued strong cash generation.

Tom Trkla, Executive Chairman and CEO

Great question and thank you, Kelly. 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. And you're absolutely correct, we've generated tremendous amounts of excess cash. As I mentioned the last call and a lot of the follow-up meetings we've had, our entire focus is to see where we can deploy that capital to EBITDA-producing things soonest. And we've got a few more fuel expansions, but it's really, as we said before, building in addition, buying in addition to building. So we feel very good that we'll increase this year over next year and into years in the future.

Our pipeline for both is very strong right now. We have directed our real estate teams to increase front-end acquisitions of land and front-end due diligence on land to be able to do that with the excess cash. Actual numbers we'll see and we'll talk about over quarters right now. But I would say we feel very confident in our ability to increase that 135 store target, which I guess over the next four and a half years now in our model. And you're absolutely correct, the excess cash.

Now to the second question. I think the majority of our short-term model has built-to-suits, but we're going to always keep a majority of our real estate. Right now it's about, what, 65%, 66% owned real estate. So we'll continue to throttle between new builds. We did move three built-to-suits to NTIs, as we reported last quarter, to deploy some of that cash sooner. And we'll keep looking at that, but we're always going to maintain healthy ownership of our stores.

And a lot of that too will also be altered by whatever stores we acquire in the coming quarters. But we want to keep the majority owned. We get the benefit of the 30% versus 15% in terms of the impact of returns from the built-to-suits versus the new-to-industry stores. But we feel confident we can basically deliver all, and we'll keep that same guidance we talked about last quarter.

Kelly Vanya, Analyst at BMO Capital Markets

Okay, thank you. And just to confirm, I think I heard you say the fuel margin, and correct me if I'm wrong, where's that tracking in July? Did you say mid-40s? Just to clarify that. And as we think about kind of 2027, obviously difficult to know when this volatility ends, but should we be thinking about a low 40s kind of in the model for 2027 at this point? Is that just a reasonable assumption?

Erica Ailes (Chief Financial Officer)

So, Kelly, thanks for the question. You're correct. The July fuel margin was in the mid-40s. You know, as far as 2027 goes, we will not guide to fuel margin. I think you know where we ended 2025 was in the low 40s. And again, as I mentioned, we historically see that track with inflation. The only other thing that I would think would be sort of in that calculus would be as more stores with higher productivity and higher diesel contribution, those are generally going to be on the higher end of the range as far as the portfolio.

Thank you.

Tom Trkla, Executive Chairman and CEO

Thanks, Kelly.

OPERATOR

Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

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