The DEG Market Pulse – Q1 2026

A quarterly read on the mid-market c-store deal market.

Most M&A reports are built for the big chains. They follow the national players, quote headline multiples, and assume you’ve got a corporate development team reading along.

The Market Pulse is for the operator who doesn’t have all that.

Every quarter we walk through where deal activity stands, what’s moving multiples, and what that means if you’re an owner thinking about a sale. It’s the same analysis we’d want on the table if we were deciding whether to go to market.

Inside the Q1 2026 issue

• Where mid-market EBITDA multiples sit today, and the twelve-quarter trend behind that number.
• The four forces driving the current seller’s market: available capital, limited quality supply, easing interest rates, and a tax change most operators haven’t connected to their own valuation yet.
• Why 100% bonus depreciation coming back under the One Big Beautiful Bill gives buyers more room on price in 2026 than they had in 2025.
• The real prep-to-close timeline, and why the operators closing this year started the conversation back in 2024 and 2025.

Every figure is sourced. When a number is a DEG estimate, we label it.

Who it’s for

Owners of mid-market convenience store chains, generally 5 to 100 locations.

You don’t have to be selling to get something out of it. A lot of readers just want a clear picture of the market they operate in. Read it, keep it, and know where you stand.

Where the analysis comes from

The Market Pulse pulls from more than one place.

It draws on industry data, deal activity across the market, and the transactions DEG has closed firsthand. It also comes out of the work we do every day: advising mid-market operators, modeling deals, and tracking what buyers will actually pay.

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It’s free. We ask for a few details so we know who’s reading.

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