Where CAPL sits among all investable US stocks
Cheapness against five-year return on assets, as percentiles. Upper left is cheaper with higher returns; larger dark dots are its industry (Other Retail).
CAPL is a cheap, high-yielding fuel distributor, but heavy debt and a controlling founder family mean no catalyst is live.
CrossAmerica distributes motor fuel to about 1,600 locations and its brands run 340 convenience stores. Shares rose 37.1% in five years, against 165.2% for peers, 23.2% for its sector fund and 74.9% for the S&P 500. Q3 profit fell on weaker fuel volumes, and shares rose 1.9% on Tuesday, November 10. Is the discount a bargain or a trap? It is cheap and pays 11.0%, but debt and family control leave no live catalyst.
The last five years on the numbers
Where CAPL has ranked among investable US stocks each quarter since 2021. Hollow dot: five years ago; solid dot: the latest quarter. The share price over the same years is in the five-year record below.
Cheap on a business earning average returns, with cash behind it
7.0× EV to operating income, 6th percentile of US stocks, cheapest in its industry (median 56th); 5-yr return on assets 61st percentile. Earnings yield 14.3% vs 4.9% Treasury; FCF yield 12.1%, 87th percentile; net debt $850M.
Against the market, its industry and sector
CAPL as a percentile of all 3,189 investable US stocks, against the 10 in Other Retail and the 190 in the Consumer Cyclicals sector.
| Metric | CAPL | Position | In its industry | Industry median | Sector median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acquirer's Multiple | 6th | The cheapest of 11 | 56th | 35th | |
| Free cash flow yield | 87th | The highest of 11 | 39th | 68th | |
| Shareholder yield | 93rd | The highest of 11 | 47th | 62nd | |
| Dividend yield | 98th | The highest of 11 | 26th | 39th | |
| Return on assets, 5-yr avg | 61st | #6 of 11 | 56th | 73rd | |
| Debt to book equity | 97th | #11 of 11 | 74th | 62nd | |
| Market cap | 25th | #10 of 11 | 40th | 50th |
Percentiles of the number itself. For the Acquirer's Multiple and debt to equity, lower is better: the 5th percentile on the multiple is cheaper than 95% of investable US stocks. Green is the better end, red the worse. Orange dot: CAPL; bar: industry median; diamond: sector median. CAPL is outside the investable set (for example a foreign ADR), so it is placed against investable US stocks. Data as of 2026-11-07.
Price v Return
What the shares and assets earn, against the 10-year Treasury.
Its industry against its own history
Other Retail report →Other Retail sits at the 54th percentile on the Acquirer's Multiple, cheaper than in 34% of quarters since 1999. Return on assets is 55th percentile, free cash flow yield 43rd, and debt is the most on record.
| Metric | Percentile now | Usual range | Against its history | Last 10 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acquirer's Multiple | 54th | 34th–62nd | Usual range | |
| Free cash flow yield | 43rd | 37th–59th | Usual range | |
| Shareholder yield | 49th | 35th–58th | Usual range | |
| Dividend yield | 26th | 24th–31st | Usual range | |
| Return on assets, 5-yr | 55th | 24th–71st | Usual range | |
| Debt to equity | 73rd | 35th–62nd | Most debt on record | |
| Company size | 39th | 37th–58th | Smaller than usual |
The industry's median stock as a percentile of all investable US stocks on each number. For the Acquirer's Multiple and debt to equity, lower is better: the 10th percentile is cheaper than 90% of the market. For yields, returns and size, higher is bigger. Usual range covers the middle 80% of quarters since 1999; it's the shaded band in each chart. Each chart is zoomed to its own range (the numbers on the left): green shading marks the metric's better side and red its worse side, the dashed line is the 50th percentile, and the dot is today, coloured by where it sits.
No live catalyst: no buyback, activist or bid has been found
Buyback yield is 0.0% and units outstanding are flat. No activist or approach found. Peer Sunoco closed its $9.1 billion Parkland deal. Site sales and a new CEO, Maura Topper, are the other items.
Catalyst check
Likelihood of a catalyst: LowNo live catalyst found; a Topper-controlled general partner and heavy debt make activism or a takeover unlikely.
Heavy debt and family control are the blockers
Topper Group controls the general partner and holds 38.5%; removal needs 66 2⁄3%. Net debt is 114.4% of market cap; leverage 3.72 times. Illustrative: 20% lower operating income at today's multiple gives $11.14.
Value-trap check
The grades miss that distribution coverage is thin at 1.09x last quarter and a controlling family can steer the partnership.
Company results, more than sector or market, explain the lag
Two turning points were the company's own (2023, 2024); one was sector, when CAPL beat a falling sector; one was market, when the S&P rose 51.4% and CAPL gained 1.0%.
Five years of moves
CAPL +37.1% since 2021-11-01, against the median of ARKO, CASY, GLP, MUSA, SUN +165.2%, Consumer Discretionary (XLY) +23.2% and the S&P 500 (SPY) +74.9%. Numbered dots mark inflections (peaks and troughs); shaded bands mark divergences from the sector or market.
What drove each turning point
| # | Turning point | CAPL | Peers | Sector | S&P 500 | Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Divergence vs sector · 2021-11-19 → 2022-12-16 | +24.0% | +24.6% | −36.2% | −16.6% | Sector |
| Sector-driven: sector fell 36.2% while CAPL gained 24.0%. The 7-Eleven asset deal lifted 2022 income, EBITDA and coverage (1.63x in Q2), and the distribution held at $0.5250. caplp.gcs-web.com (1351 days ago); SEC filing; SEC filing | ||||||
| 2 | Divergence vs sector · 2022-12-16 → 2023-07-14 | −6.1% | +1.6% | +31.6% | +18.1% | Company |
| No news found; CAPL fell 6.1% while peers rose 1.6%, the sector 31.6% and the market 18.1%, so the lag was the company's own. | ||||||
| 3 | Divergence vs market · 2023-10-27 → 2024-11-08 | −0.7% | +43.2% | +45.0% | +47.6% | Company |
| Company-driven: CAPL fell 0.7% while the market rose 47.6%. Gross profit fell in both segments, Q1 2024 had a $17.5M net loss, and Q4 2024 margins fell. SEC filing; marketscreener.com (915 days ago); caplp.gcs-web.com | ||||||
| 4 | Divergence vs market · 2025-04-04 → 2026-11-09 | +1.0% | +14.4% | +34.0% | +51.4% | Market |
| Market-driven: the S&P rose 51.4% and CAPL gained 1.0%. Profit was uneven: Q1 2025 net loss $7.1M, Q3 2026 net income $8.8M versus $13.6M as fuel volumes fell. SEC filing; nasdaq.com; fool.com (4 days ago) | ||||||
Prices: daily closes. Peers chosen by the AI analyst as the closest US-listed businesses. Moves are over each window: for a peak or trough, the move that followed it. Driver is Company, Sector or Market; see Definitions below.
Every report on CAPL
Each AI analyst report as it was published, with the share price that day and the move since (today $19.48). Past performance is not a guide to the future.
| Report | Price then | Since | What it said |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 10, 2026Latest | $19.48 | +0.0% | Cheap fuel distributor yields 11.0%, but debt and family control limit catalysts · Catalyst: Low |
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Definitions
- Acquirer's Multiple®
- Enterprise value ÷ operating income (trailing 12 months). What an acquirer would pay for the whole business against what it earns before interest and tax. Lower is cheaper.
- Enterprise value
- Market cap at today's price, plus debt, preferred stock and minority interests, less cash.
- Operating income
- Trailing 12 months, after depreciation and amortization.
- Operating earnings yield
- Operating income ÷ enterprise value: the Acquirer's Multiple turned upside down.
- Free cash flow yield
- Trailing 12-month free cash flow (cash from operations less capital spending) ÷ market cap.
- Shareholder yield
- Trailing 12-month dividends plus net buybacks (shares bought back less shares issued) ÷ market cap. Dividend yield and buyback yield are its two parts.
- Return on assets
- Trailing 12-month operating income ÷ total assets at the latest quarter.
- Net debt : market cap
- Debt less cash, as a share of market cap. Negative means net cash.
- E(r)
- Expected annual return if the Acquirer's Multiple doesn't change. It has three parts: return on assets (what the business earns on what it owns); incremental growth (return on assets × the reinvestment rate, where the reinvestment rate is five-year average capital spending ÷ five-year average total assets: what reinvested capital adds); and shareholder yield (what is paid out through dividends and buybacks). E(r) = return on assets × (1 + reinvestment rate) + shareholder yield.
- 10-year Treasury
- The latest monthly 10-year US Treasury yield, the risk-free rate the yields are compared with.
- Percentiles
- Where the stock sits among investable US stocks (price above $3, market cap above $75M, average daily trading above $850,000, no ADRs or MLPs), updated each week. Each is the percentile of the number itself: for the Acquirer's Multiple (here EBIT ÷ enterprise value) and debt (total debt ÷ book equity), lower is better; for yields, five-year average return on assets and market cap, higher is bigger. Stocks outside the investable set, such as ADRs, are placed against it.
- Industry and sector
- FactSet RBICS industry. Industry and sector medians are the middle investable stock's percentile. Industry history is that median each quarter since 1999; the usual range is the middle 80% of quarters.
- Turning points
- Inflection points are the peaks and troughs where the stock's trend reversed by about 25% or more on weekly closes; each is compared over the move that followed. Divergences are stretches where the stock pulled away from its sector fund or the S&P 500 by about 20% or more. Each is set against its peers' median, its sector fund and the S&P 500 over the same window. Driver: Market if the market moved with it (same way, at least half as far) and so did its peers or sector; Sector if only its peers or sector did; Company otherwise.
- Value-trap grades
- Return on assets: Strong at 10% or more, Mixed at 5% or more. Net debt : market cap: Strong at 30% or less, Mixed at 100% or less. Free cash flow yield: Strong at 10% or more, Mixed at 5% or more. Shareholder yield: Strong at 8% or more, Mixed at 3% or more.