CrossAmerica’s CEO Sold 107 Properties to Earn the Right to Say ‘We Enter 2026 With a Strong Balance Sheet’

CrossAmerica Partners CEO Charles Nifong used the Q4 2025 earnings call to draw a direct line between a year of deliberate portfolio pruning and the partnership’s improved financial footing heading into 2026. His most pointed remark: “We enter 2026 with a solid core business and a strong balance sheet to support future growth.” That claim carries more weight when you look at what it took to get there.

$100 Million in Divestitures, a Leaner Debt Load

The centerpiece of Nifong’s commentary was the asset recycling program. “Throughout the year, we successfully divested non-core locations, generating over $100 million in proceeds that we used to materially reduce our debt and enhance our financial flexibility,” he said. The numbers back this up: CrossAmerica sold 107 properties in 2025, generating $103.3 million in proceeds, and the leverage ratio fell from 4.36x to 3.51x year-over-year. Interest expense dropped by $4.2 million for the full year, a direct benefit of both lower debt balances and a 5.6% effective interest rate.

Margin Expansion Drove the Quarter’s Outperformance

Nifong credited strategic site conversions for enabling the partnership to capture a favorable fuel margin environment. “The quarter highlights the benefits of our strategic site conversions to retail, which enabled us to capitalize on a favorable margin environment,” he said. Retail motor fuel margin per gallon came in at $0.449, up 19% year-over-year, while wholesale margin per gallon reached $0.093, up 13%. Merchandise gross profit margin expanded to 29.1%, a 70 basis point improvement. Together, these drove retail segment gross profit to $82.9 million, up 10% year-over-year.

The Q4 EPS print of $0.25 beat the $0.05 consensus estimate, and revenue of $866.3 million exceeded the $748 million estimate by a wide margin, even as revenue fell 8.3% year-over-year — a reflection of the asset sales reducing the top line while improving the bottom.

What Investors Should Watch

The structural risks haven’t disappeared. Retail fuel volumes fell 7% year-over-year in Q4, and the lessee dealer site count dropped 23% as the conversion strategy reshapes the wholesale segment. Shareholders’ equity remains in deficit at -$102.3 million, and the dividend payout relative to earnings draws scrutiny from some analysts given the $0.525 quarterly distribution.

Nifong himself stepped down as CEO effective March 2, 2026, handing the role to former CFO Maura Topper. The market has responded positively since earnings: CAPL shares have risen 11.35% over the past week to $22.47. Whether the margin tailwinds that defined 2025 persist under softer crude — WTI averaged $64.51 per barrel in February 2026, down from $71.53 a year earlier — will be the key test for Topper’s first year at the helm.

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