Cintas 8-K
PositiveEarningsNew guidance
UniFirst acquisition won shareholder approval and drew expected FTC second requests; FY2027 guidance excludes the deal.
Filed 2026-07-15 08:31 ET
- 2.02 Results of Operations
- 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits
Summary
Fiscal 2026 Q4 and full-year results with FY2027 guidance. Revenue, operating income and diluted EPS grew in both periods; record gross margins reflected employee execution and investments in technology, capacity and talent. UniFirst shareholders approved the proposed acquisition, and both companies received expected FTC second requests; Cintas still expects closing in the second half of calendar 2026.
Key Figures
| Metric | Q4 2026 | Q4 2025 | Y/Y |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.91B | $2.67B | 8.9% |
| Operating income | $673M | $597M | 12.7% |
| Net income | $511M | $448M | 14.0% |
| Diluted EPS | $1.26 | $1.09 | 15.6% |
| Adjusted diluted EPS, non-GAAP | $1.29 | — | 18.3% |
| Organic revenue growth | 8.4% | — | — |
| Metric | FY2026 | FY2025 | Y/Y |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $11.3B | $10.3B | 8.9% |
| Operating income | $2.61B | $2.36B | 10.5% |
| Net income | $2.00B | $1.81B | 10.4% |
| Diluted EPS | $4.91 | $4.40 | 11.6% |
| Adjusted diluted EPS, non-GAAP | $4.94 | — | 12.3% |
| Operating cash flow | $2.28B | $2.17B | 5.1% |
| Free cash flow, non-GAAP | $1.88B | $1.76B | 7.1% |
| Organic revenue growth | 8.3% | — | — |
- Gross margin reached a Q4 record 51.0%, up 130 bp Y/Y; FY gross margin was a record 50.7%, up 70 bp. Q4 operating income included $14.0M of UniFirst transaction expenses; FY operating income included $15.1M.
- FY2026 capital expenditures were $395M. Cintas returned $1.65B through $952M of share repurchases and $701M of dividends; year-end shares outstanding fell to 400.1M from 402.9M, down 0.7%.
- FY2027 guidance excludes the proposed UniFirst acquisition’s expected impact and assumes no future acquisitions and constant foreign exchange. Adjusted diluted EPS guidance excludes non-recurring UniFirst transaction costs, which the company says cannot be reasonably estimated; it did not reconcile the non-GAAP guidance to GAAP.
Guidance
| Metric | Period | Guidance | Prior | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | FY2027 | $12.10B-$12.25B; 7.4%-8.7% Y/Y | — | — |
| Workday-adjusted revenue growth | FY2027 | 7.0%-8.3% Y/Y | — | — |
| Adjusted diluted EPS, non-GAAP | FY2027 | $5.36-$5.50; 8.5%-11.3% Y/Y | — | — |
| Interest expense, net | FY2027 | ≈$105M | $101.2M in FY2026 | — |
| Effective tax rate | FY2027 | 20.2% | 20.2% in FY2026 | Reaffirmed |
Investor Takeaways
- Track progress toward the FY2027 revenue and adjusted diluted EPS ranges; the revenue outlook excludes any UniFirst contribution.
- Watch FTC review and other closing conditions against Cintas’ expected second-half 2026 closing window for UniFirst.
The summary is written by an AI model reading the filing.
Model 005 · prompt 01d34d48e3