UNF - UniFirst Corp.

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UniFirst Corporation provides workplace uniforms and protective work wear clothing primarily in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It operates through US Rental and Cleaning; Canadian Rental and Cleaning; Manufacturing; Specialty Garments Rental and Cleaning; and First Aid segments. The company designs, manufactures, personalizes, rents, cleans, delivers, and sells a range of uniforms and protective clothing, including shirts, pants, jackets, coveralls, lab coats, smocks, and aprons; and specialized protective wear, such as flame resistant and high visibility garments. It also rents and sells industrial wiping products, floor mats, facility service products, and dry and wet mops; restroom and cleaning supplies comprising air fresheners, paper products, and hand soaps; and other textile products. In addition, the company provides first aid cabinet services and other safety supplies; decontaminates and cleans work clothes, and other items that may have been exposed to radioactive materials; and services special clean room protective wear and facilities. Further, it offers a range of garment service options, including full-service rental programs in which garments are cleaned and serviced; lease programs in which garments are cleaned and maintained by individual employees; and purchase programs to buy garments and related items directly. The company serves automobile service centers and dealers, delivery services, food and general merchandise retailers, food processors and service operations, light manufacturers, maintenance facilities, restaurants, service companies, soft and durable goods wholesalers, transportation companies, government agencies, research and development laboratories, high technology companies, and utilities operating nuclear reactors, as well as others who require employee clothing for image, identification, protection, or utility purposes. UniFirst Corporation was founded in 1936 and is based in Wilmington, Massachusetts.

 

UniFirst beats Street 4Q forecasts
WILMINGTON, Mass. (AP) _ UniFirst Corp. (UNF) on Wednesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $35.5 million.

On a per-share basis, the Wilmington, Massachusetts-based company said it had profit of $1.74. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were $1.27 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.23 per share.

The uniform provider posted revenue of $363.8 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $362.7 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $125 million, or $6.17 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.47 billion.

UniFirst expects full-year earnings to be $5 to $5.15 per share, with revenue in the range of $1.55 billion to $1.57 billion.

UniFirst shares have climbed 26 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has climbed 18 percent in the last 12 months.

 

UniFirst (UNF) Ends Triple Play Drought
Wed, Jun 26, 2019

Seeing as we are between earnings seasons, the pace of earnings has been at a crawl over the past few weeks. As shown in the snapshot from our Earnings Explorer, things will more or less remain that way for the rest of June and into July with only 51 reports between now and July 15th. Afterward, things pick up when the major financials start to report their quarterly results as earnings season begins in earnest with 130 reports that week and 527 the following week.



With the caveat of small sample size, recently there have been very few earnings triple plays. This morning's quarterly report from UniFirst (UNF), however, broke a two-week drought. Before UNF, the most recent triple play was Restoration Hardware (RH) on June 12th. We define a triple play as a beat in sales and EPS estimates in addition to the company raising guidance. We like to look at these as they can be indicative of solid fundamental health of a company.

UniFirst (UNF), a uniform/workwear rental and facility service company, saw EPS come in at $2.46, well above estimates of $1.70. Revenues were over $12 million above estimates at $453.72 mln; 6.2% growth versus the comparable quarter last year. This was UNF's second consecutive triple play. The company cited revenues benefiting from solid organic growth and lower costs in its core business in addition to solid growth and margins in its specialty garments business (nuclear decontamination and cleanroom operations) thanks to a 2018 acquisition paying off.

In the other six triple plays in its earnings history, UNF has averaged a gap up of 6.78% followed by an average decline from open to close of 1.7%. UNF has followed this script today with the stock gapping up 7.37% and so far falling 1.28% from the open as of this writing.