Caseys General Stores Inc (CASY)

Cash conversion cycle

		Apr 30, 2025	Jan 31, 2025	Oct 31, 2024	Jul 31, 2024	Apr 30, 2024	Jan 31, 2024	Oct 31, 2023	Jul 31, 2023	Apr 30, 2023	Jan 31, 2023	Oct 31, 2022	Jul 31, 2022	Apr 30, 2022	Jan 31, 2022	Oct 31, 2021	Jul 31, 2021	Apr 30, 2021	Jan 31, 2021	Oct 31, 2020	Jul 31, 2020
Days of inventory on hand (DOH)	days	19.21	14.76	13.75	14.14	13.59	13.33	13.40	13.60	11.42	11.60	11.99	12.84	14.19	13.93	15.42	16.84	16.47	17.02	14.94	13.51
Days of sales outstanding (DSO)	days	4.14	4.30	3.81	3.99	4.15	3.96	3.73	3.36	3.48	3.20	3.85	4.28	4.29	3.12	3.63	4.38	3.74	2.99	2.44	2.35
Number of days of payables	days	24.83	17.93	18.24	18.68	18.05	16.78	19.24	18.27	17.02	15.53	17.90	19.90	21.09	15.82	22.43	22.59	20.43	20.82	19.35	17.55
Cash conversion cycle	days	-1.48	1.12	-0.67	-0.55	-0.32	0.52	-2.11	-1.30	-2.12	-0.73	-2.06	-2.78	-2.61	1.23	-3.37	-1.37	-0.22	-0.82	-1.97	-1.69

April 30, 2025 calculation

Cash conversion cycle = DOH + DSO – Number of days of payables
= 19.21 + 4.14 – 24.83
= -1.48

The cash conversion cycle (CCC) of Caseys General Stores Inc. from July 31, 2020, through April 30, 2025, exhibits a fluctuating but predominantly negative trend, indicating that the company generally operates with a cash conversion cycle where it receives cash from sales before it needs to pay its suppliers.

Initially, from July 31, 2020, the CCC was approximately -1.69 days, suggesting that the company’s collections from sales were slightly faster than its payments to suppliers, resulting in a negative cycle. This pattern persisted through the subsequent periods, with slight fluctuations. Notably, there was a deepening of the negative cycle reaching -3.37 days as of October 31, 2021, indicating an increasingly efficient working capital cycle where the company was able to generate cash from operations before settling payables.

In early 2022, the CCC briefly transitioned into a positive territory, recorded at 1.23 days as of January 31, 2022. This shift suggests a period where the company's cash inflows lagged behind its cash outflows, potentially due to changes in inventory management, receivables collection, or supplier payment terms.

Following this anomaly, the CCC reverted to negative territory, often remaining significantly below zero. From April 30, 2022, through October 31, 2024, the CCC continued to hover predominantly between approximately -0.2 and -3 days, reflecting a consistent pattern where the company generally receives cash from customers before paying its suppliers, thus reducing working capital requirements and improving cash flow efficiency.

However, notable deviations occurred in January 2023 and January 2025, with the CCC turning positive at 0.52 days and 1.12 days, respectively. These shifts could indicate temporary disruptions or strategic changes in receivables or payables management, or alterations in sales and inventory practices.

Overall, the data indicates that Caseys General Stores has maintained an operational model characterized by a largely negative CCC, favoring quick cash realization relative to supplier payments, which supports liquidity and working capital management. The sporadic instances of positive CCC suggest occasional periods where the company's cash inflow lagged behind outflows, but these are relatively short-term deviations within an overall framework of cash cycle efficiency.