7-Eleven and Circle K both run large U.S. convenience store networks, and together they show how the market prices investment grade credit against convenience store real estate risk. Both rated entities are investment grade under the threshold detailed in our investment grade guide, and for both the underwriting extends beyond the lease into environmental condition and site quality, plus fuel volumes where a site sells fuel. Any cap rate gap between them can reflect rating, site vintage, remaining lease term and location; the live table below shows where it stands today.
Quick verdict: 7-Eleven, Inc. (A-/Baa2) has the higher S&P rating, while Circle K’s parent, Alimentation Couche-Tard (BBB+/Baa1), is rated higher at Moody’s. We currently track 149 active 7-Eleven listings and 37 active Circle K listings; that is the supply available to compare, not a measure of resale liquidity. The listings compared here include convenience stores with and without fuel, so apply fuel diligence where a site sells fuel, and confirm the tenant, any guarantor and the lease term in each lease. The choice often comes down to which agency’s view you weight, site vintage and going-in yield.
7-Eleven vs Circle K: Side-by-Side Comparison
| Metric | 7-Eleven | Circle K |
|---|---|---|
| S&P / Moody’s Rating | A-/Baa2 | BBB+/Baa1 |
| Parent Company | Seven & i Holdings | Alimentation Couche-Tard |
| Reported network size | More than 13,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada, operated, franchised or licensed, including Speedway and Stripes (7-Eleven website, October 2026) | 7,260 U.S. stores across Couche-Tard’s banners, including affiliated stores, as of July 19, 2026 (Couche-Tard website) |
| Median asking cap rate | See the live table below | See the live table below |
| Lease term in listings | Varies with store age; recently built sites often marketed with about 15 years remaining | Varies; confirm in each lease |
| Broker-reported escalations (Oct. 8, 2026) | 10% every 5 years in 21 of the 38 listings with a readable schedule; 7.5% every 5 years in 8 | Varies among the 16 listings with a readable schedule, from annual increases to fixed increases every 5 years or increases in option periods only |
| Guarantee label in listings (Oct. 8, 2026) | “Corporate guarantee” on 76 of the 107 listings that state a credit profile; a marketing claim, not the legal tenant or guarantor | “Corporate guarantee” on 20 of the 26 listings that state a credit profile; a marketing claim, not the legal tenant or guarantor |
| Median building (live) / lot (Oct. 8, 2026) | 3,136 sq ft store, often with fuel / 1.11 acres | 4,582 sq ft store, often with fuel / 1.24 acres |
Store counts are company-reported for the geographies and banners shown. Escalation schedules, lot sizes and guarantee labels come from broker-reported fields in the active listings InvestmentGrade.com tracks, as of October 8, 2026, counted only where a listing states the field (lot size is stated on 126 of 136 7-Eleven and 34 of 34 Circle K listings); they are not taken from executed leases, and a guarantee label is not a review of who signed. Median building sizes are live. Live asking cap rates are in the table below.
Credit Rating Comparison: 7-Eleven vs Couche-Tard
7-Eleven, Inc. carries A- from S&P and Baa2 from Moody’s. In August 2020, 7-Eleven, Inc. agreed to acquire Speedway from Marathon Petroleum for $21 billion in cash (Marathon Petroleum press release filed with the SEC, August 2, 2020). The rated entity is 7-Eleven, Inc. Whether it is the tenant or guarantor on a given property is a lease question: listing labels such as “corporate guarantee” are marketing claims and do not show who signed, so confirm the tenant and any guarantor on each lease.
Circle K’s parent, Alimentation Couche-Tard, is rated BBB+/Baa1, and reports about 17,200 stores in 27 countries and territories, including stores under licensing agreements (Couche-Tard website, October 2026). Because the rated entity is the parent, confirm whether a Couche-Tard subsidiary or the parent signs or guarantees each Circle K lease. Both credits sit above the BBB-/Baa3 cutoff, and both are tracked alongside the rest of the rated retail universe on our credit tenant ratings index. Neither has a clear overall credit edge: 7-Eleven, Inc. (A-/Baa2) is rated higher at S&P and Couche-Tard higher at Moody’s.
Cap Rates: Asking Prices and Going-In Yield
Live asking cap rates for 7-Eleven, Circle K and comparable tenants:
| Tenant | S&P / Moody’s | Median asking cap rate | Middle half of listings | Listings | Median vs. 10-year Treasury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wawa | n/a / n/a | 5.00% | 4.65% to 5.15% | 53 | −24 bps |
| Circle K (rated entity: Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.) | BBB+ / Baa1 | 5.12% | 5.00% to 5.50% | 36 | −13 bps |
| 7-Eleven | A- / Baa2 | 5.15% | 4.93% to 5.50% | 147 | −9 bps |
| Speedway (rated entity: 7-Eleven, Inc.) | A- / Baa2 | 5.25% | 5.13% to 6.38% | 11 | +1 bps |
Active listings InvestmentGrade.com tracks with an asking cap rate (stated in the listing, or computed from its stated income and price when no rate is stated), listings last observed October 12, 2026. Asking cap rates are not closed-sale cap rates. The middle half is the range from the 25th to the 75th percentile of listings. The 10-year Treasury yield is 5.24% as of October 1, 2026 (FRED series DGS10). Ratings are the agency ratings in our ratings database for the entity shown, which may be a parent company; the rating type (for example issuer, senior unsecured debt, long-term debt or revenue bond ratings) varies by company and is shown on each tenant page. A rating applies to a lease only if the rated entity signs or guarantees it, so confirm the tenant and any guarantor in the lease. n/a means no verified rating is on file.
As of October 8, 2026, in the listings InvestmentGrade.com tracks, stores built in 2018 or later asked lower median cap rates than older stores for both tenants: 5.00% (64 listings) versus 5.27% (54) for 7-Eleven, and 5.00% (15) versus 5.25% (16) for Circle K. Listings reporting 13 or more years of remaining lease term also asked lower medians than shorter terms: 5.00% (15) versus 5.45% (23) for 7-Eleven, and 5.02% (10) versus 5.30% (9) for Circle K. Remaining term is reported on only some listings and the Circle K samples are small, so treat these as observations about asking prices, not causes.
Any gap between the two tenant medians can reflect the S&P rating difference, store age (as of October 8, 2026, the median year built was 2003 for the 31 Circle K listings that report it, versus between 2019 and 2020 for the 120 7-Eleven listings that report it), remaining term, location and, possibly, buyer familiarity with each brand, which we have not measured. When Circle K’s median is higher, a buyer comfortable with Couche-Tard credit may find a higher going-in yield, though each site still needs its own underwriting. When the medians are close, a larger pool of 7-Eleven listings offers more acquisition choices; choose on the actual lease, site and price. Underwriting detail on each tenant: 7-Eleven credit rating & NNN cap rate and Circle K credit rating & NNN cap rate.
Lease Structure: Term, Escalations, and Guarantee
Lease terms vary with store age. In the listings we track, recently built 7-Eleven sites are often marketed with about 15 years of lease term remaining, while Circle K terms vary. Remaining term is reported on 36 7-Eleven and 18 Circle K listings, and it is a broker-reported remaining term, not the original primary term, so confirm the primary term, renewal options and lease form, including whether it is absolute NNN, in each lease. As of October 8, 2026, 21 of the 38 7-Eleven listings with a readable rent schedule show 10% increases every five years and 8 show 7.5% every five years; Circle K schedules vary, so confirm them lease by lease. Listings for both chains often carry a “corporate guarantee” label, but that is a marketing claim, not a verified obligor: the tenant may be 7-Eleven, Inc., a Couche-Tard U.S. subsidiary or another entity, and a subsidiary lease may or may not carry a parent guaranty. Confirm the tenant and guarantor on each lease. As of October 8, 2026, one 7-Eleven listing and one Circle K listing carry a franchisee label, but labels are not a review of every obligor.
The lease form matters a great deal here: under an absolute NNN lease the tenant is often responsible for the store, the canopy, the tanks, and the environmental systems; confirm each obligation in the lease. A landlord’s exposure to fuel infrastructure is contractual first and physical second, which is why lease form review, not just credit review, is where convenience store diligence starts.
Fuel Sites, Environmental Diligence, and Residual Risk
Fuel sites add a layer of underwriting beyond the lease and the tenant credit: the fuel system itself. Buyers should confirm tank age and monitoring systems, review the state environmental database history, and obtain a Phase I environmental report on every fuel site regardless of tenant credit. Leases may place environmental responsibility on the tenant (confirm the provisions in each lease), but the residual owner of the dirt is the landlord, and lenders underwrite accordingly.
The offset can be residual value: hard-corner, signalized fuel sites can have several potential replacement users, though re-leasing depends on the site, zoning and environmental condition. On scale, 7-Eleven reports more than 13,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada, including Speedway and Stripes, while Couche-Tard reports 7,260 U.S. stores across its banners as of July 19, 2026 (company websites).
Bond Yields vs NNN Cap Rates: The Pivot
7-Eleven, Inc. has US dollar senior unsecured notes outstanding, issued on February 10, 2021 with maturities from 2028 to 2051, and Couche-Tard’s debt is also rated investment grade. 7-Eleven is rated A- by S&P, and the ICE BofA A US Corporate Index yields 5.84%; Circle K’s parent is rated BBB+ by S&P, and the BBB index yields 6.19%, both as of October 1, 2026. Against those indexes, the median 7-Eleven asking cap rate is a spread of −69 bps and the median Circle K asking cap rate a spread of −108 bps, before counting rent escalations. These index comparisons are a broad yield proxy, not a like-for-like return comparison: the index yields are effective yields on baskets of U.S. corporate bonds in each rating category, not 7-Eleven or Couche-Tard bonds, while a cap rate is a first-year income yield on an asking price, and the two differ in maturity, default and lease risk, capital expenditure exposure and liquidity. Owning the real estate can add tax features the bonds lack, depending on the investor’s facts: depreciation generally requires owning the property, and land itself cannot be depreciated (IRS Publication 946); gain deferral under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code requires, among other conditions, that real property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment be exchanged solely for like-kind real property to be held for either of those purposes, with the replacement identified within 45 days and received within 180 days after the relinquished property is transferred, or by the due date of the tax return (including extensions) if earlier (26 U.S.C. 1031(a)). This is general information, not tax advice. The full framework is on our investment grade bonds hub.
Which Tenant Fits Which Buyer?
Consider 7-Eleven if you give more weight to S&P’s assessment, which rates 7-Eleven, Inc. higher (Moody’s rates Couche-Tard higher), and you want the larger reported U.S. and Canada store network and a larger pool of listings to compare. If new-generation fuel real estate is a priority, select for it site by site; listings for both chains include older stores.
Consider Circle K if you give more weight to Moody’s assessment or to going-in yield (compare the live table), and you are comfortable that BBB+/Baa1 parent credit from Couche-Tard is adequate for your hold period, after confirming whether the parent guarantees the lease. Where a Circle K listing asks a higher cap rate than a comparable 7-Eleven, the income difference adds up over a long hold, provided rent is paid as scheduled.
Evaluating a convenience store net lease acquisition? We benchmark 7-Eleven and Circle K offerings against live comps, fuel volumes, environmental reports, and current financing quotes, and can produce a Broker Opinion of Value. Request a buyer consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 7-Eleven or Circle K a better NNN investment?
7-Eleven, Inc. has the higher S&P rating (A-), while Moody’s rates Circle K’s parent, Couche-Tard (BBB+/Baa1), higher. We currently track 149 active 7-Eleven listings and 37 active Circle K listings, which affects how many properties a buyer can compare but says nothing about how quickly a property would resell; current median asking cap rates for both are in the live table on this page. Buyers who give more weight to S&P’s assessment may prefer 7-Eleven; buyers who weigh Moody’s view, or want a higher going-in yield when Circle K asks one, may prefer Circle K. Confirm the tenant and any guarantor in each lease.
What are the credit ratings of 7-Eleven and Circle K?
7-Eleven, Inc. is rated A- by S&P and Baa2 by Moody’s. Circle K’s parent Alimentation Couche-Tard is rated BBB+ (Stable) by S&P and Baa1 (Stable) by Moody’s. Both are investment grade.
What asking cap rates do 7-Eleven and Circle K NNN properties carry?
Current median asking cap rates for both tenants are shown in the live table on this page. As of October 8, 2026, in the listings we track, stores built in 2018 or later and listings reporting 13 or more years of remaining term asked lower median cap rates than older stores and shorter terms for both tenants; the Circle K samples are small (9 to 16 listings per group) and remaining term is reported on only some listings, so these are observations, not causes. Asking cap rates are not closed-sale cap rates.
What environmental diligence do convenience store NNN buyers need?
Every fuel site purchase should include a Phase I environmental site assessment, a review of underground storage tank age and monitoring systems, and a check of state environmental records for historical releases. Leases may place environmental responsibility on the tenant (confirm in each lease), but the landlord owns the land, and lenders may require the diligence regardless of tenant credit.
Are 7-Eleven and Circle K leases corporate or franchisee guaranteed?
Listings for both chains often carry a “corporate guarantee” label, and, as of October 8, 2026, one listing for each chain carries a franchisee label, but these are marketing labels, not a review of who signed. The tenant may be 7-Eleven, Inc., a Couche-Tard U.S. subsidiary or another entity, and a subsidiary lease may or may not carry a parent guaranty. Confirm the tenant and guarantor on each lease; if a franchisee or other operator is the tenant, underwrite that operator directly.
