Pantry shares rose almost 9 percent today, following an increased outlook from analysts at William Blair & Co.

On Tuesday afternoon, William Blair analyst Mark Miller issued a new projection for the Pantry's most recent quarter, saying that he expected the company to benefit from improved profit margins on gasoline.

Miller raised his estimate for the quarter by 20 cents a share to 17 cents. He also raised his estimate for the Pantry's fiscal year, which ends in September, by a corresponding 20 cents to $1.20 per share.

The Pantry is expected to release its earnings figures for its second fiscal quarter in May. The company's stock rose from $13.13 to $14.29 today.

The Pantry reported a net loss during its latest quarter, as profit fell on gasoline, cigarettes and other products sold at the Cary company's more than 1,600 convenience stores.

The net loss for the fiscal first quarter that ended Dec. 24 was $26.1 million, or $1.17 per share. That compared to net income of $38.5 million, or $1.73 per share, during the same quarter a year earlier.

Total revenue rose about 6 percent to $1.74 billion.

The company is the largest convenience-store chain in the Southeast, with stores mostly under the Kangaroo Express name. Officials are looking to boost sales of groceries and fast food as a way to bolster profit in 2010.

Convenience-store chain The Pantry plans to donate 5,000 pre-paid calling cards to National Guard troops when they are deployed overseas.

Officials with Kangaroo Express, the Cary company's main brand name, will present the cards to Major Gen. William Ingram, head of the N.C. National Guard, this morning in Raleigh.

Kangaroo needed to dispose of a large number of aging pre-paid cell phones and converted them to calling cards through a nonprofit called Cell Phones for Soldiers, said spokeswoman Leslie Myers. The Pantry owns more than 1,600 stores in 11 states.

The cards have about 400,000 minutes of talk time and are worth about $25,000.

The donation is the latest example of corporate philanthropy aimed at soldiers. Café Carolina and Bakery, a restaurant chain with six locations in Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill, Greensboro and Charlotte, recently fed hundreds of soldiers traveling through Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

While reporting a strong finish for its 2009 fiscal year, Pantry executives made it clear Wednesday that they are already looking well ahead into 2010.

On the Sanford-based company's quarterly earnings conference call with analysts and investors, new CEO Terrance Marks outlined an aggressive strategy that focuses on meeting customer needs for the company's next fiscal year.

"Convenience retail has evolved," he said. "The common denominator is the fact that the shopper can get in and get out in a convenient and fast fashion. The need for speed is not going to revers itself."

The Pantry, which operates more than 1,650 convenience stores throughout the Southeast, will take a three-pronged approach to increasing in-store performance, Marks said.

The Pantry reported strong fourth quarter earnings this morning, completing another profitable fiscal year for the Cary-based operator of more than 1,600 Southeastern convenience stores.

Fourth quarter net income for the chain was $13.3 million, or 60 cents per share.

Though that was below the company's results for the final quarter of 2008, in which it earned $22.9 million, or $1.03 per share, chief financial officer Frank Paci said the fluctuation was due to an "abnormally favorable gasoline market in the fourth quarter of last year."

"While we faced significant headwinds from a soft economic environment and increased tobacco taxes, an above-average gas margin and continued tight expense controls enabled us to report sharply higher earnings for the year," Paci said.

For the entire year, The Pantry's net income was $59.1 million, or $2.65 per share, an increase of 86 percent over 2008.

The Pantry got a new CEO that's a bit cheaper than the old one.

The Cary-based convenience store chain on Thursday named former Coca-Cola bottling executive Terrance M. Marks as its new CEO. He replaces Peter J. Sodini, who was CEO since 1996.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon, the Pantry disclosed that it will pay Marks an initial annual salary of $750,000 plus restricted stock, a bonus and other perks.

That base salary is less than the $800,000 Sodini made last year, according to an earlier SEC filing. Sodini's total compensation was about $2.3 million.

Marks, 49, is a former executive with Coca-Cola Enterprises, the Atlanta-based company that is the world's largest soft-drink distributor.

Marks will start as CEO on Sept. 15. Sodini will resign as CEO on Sept. 24.

SANFORD — The Pantry Inc. has named Terrance M. Marks to replace Peter Sodini as president and CEO.

Sodini, 68, took the helm of the company in 1996. He announced in April that he would retire at the end of his contract in September.

The Pantry is the Southeast's biggest independent convenience-store chain and one of the
Triangle's largest publicly traded companies. It now has almost 1,700 stores in 11
states under several banners, including the Kangaroo gas station chain.

Marks, 49, previously served as executive vice president of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. and president of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. North America Group. His appointment is effective Sept. 25.

The Pantry this morning announced that sales and profit fell during its fiscal third quarter, as gasoline prices rose and the recession hurt merchandise sales.

The company, which moved its headquarters to Cary from Sanford this summer, is the largest convenience-store chain in the southeast, with more than 1,600 stores in 11 states.

Net income for the quarter ended June 25 was $43,000, or break-even on a per-share basis. During the same quarter last year, net income was $10.7 million, or 48 cents a share.

Revenue fell 34 percent to $1.63 billion. That was slightly less than analysts had expected.

In addition to higher wholesale gas prices, which eat into profit, the results were affected "by the ongoing economic softness in our markets and by higher tobacco excise taxes," said CEO Peter J. Sodini, who plans to retire this fall.