5 Must-Read Analyst Questions From UniFirst’s Q4 Earnings Call

Workplace uniform provider UniFirst beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2025, with sales up 2.7% year on year to $621.3 million. The company expects the full year’s revenue to be around $2.49 billion, close to analysts’ estimates. Its GAAP profit of $1.89 per share was 5.1% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

UniFirst (UNF) Q4 CY2025 Highlights:

• Revenue: $621.3 million vs analyst estimates of $615.3 million (2.7% year-on-year growth, 1% beat)
• EPS (GAAP): $1.89 vs analyst expectations of $1.99 (5.1% miss)
• Adjusted EBITDA: $82.81 million vs analyst estimates of $88.45 million (13.3% margin, 6.4% miss)
• The company reconfirmed its revenue guidance for the full year of $2.49 billion at the midpoint
• EPS (GAAP) guidance for the full year is $6.78 at the midpoint, roughly in line with what analysts were expecting
• Operating Margin: 7.3%, down from 9.2% in the same quarter last year
• Market Capitalization: $3.56 billion

StockStory’s Take

UniFirst’s fourth quarter was met with a negative market response, as the company’s revenue growth was offset by lower-than-expected profitability. Management attributed the mixed performance to continued investments in sales and service capabilities, higher healthcare claims, and increased legal costs. CEO Steven Sintros highlighted that the company’s core Uniform and Facility Service Solutions business saw solid organic growth driven by new account wins and improved customer retention. However, these gains were tempered by ongoing operational investments and incremental weakness in customer employment levels, which impacted growth in existing accounts.

Looking forward, UniFirst’s guidance for the year is underpinned by ongoing digital transformation and operational initiatives, particularly the rollout of its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Management believes these efforts will drive long-term efficiency and scalability, even as near-term margins remain pressured by investment spend. CEO Steven Sintros noted, “There’s a fair amount of investment and execution around these tech and other initiatives to get them off the ground… we are getting to a much closer line of sight to these things starting to inflect.”

Key Insights from Management’s Remarks

Management pointed to targeted investments, digital transformation, and segment-specific dynamics as key factors shaping Q4 performance and outlook.

• Salesforce and Service Investment: UniFirst increased headcount in both sales and service teams, aiming to enhance account acquisition and customer retention. These personnel investments contributed to short-term margin compression but are expected to support sustainable growth.

• Digital and Operational Transformation: The company advanced its “UniFirst Way” operational framework, focusing on process standardization, inventory management, and procurement improvements. The ongoing ERP implementation is central to this effort, with management expecting efficiency gains and cost discipline over the next several years.

• First Aid Segment Momentum: The First Aid and Safety Solutions segment posted robust revenue growth, driven by expansion in van operations and small bolt-on acquisitions. Despite these gains, profitability was impacted by investments and a softer employment environment affecting account volumes.

• Customer Mix Shift: Management emphasized progress in the mid-sized account segment, which had been underpenetrated in prior years. Recent salesforce restructuring enabled more targeted engagement, leading to improved results in this customer category.

• Cost Headwinds: Higher-than-anticipated healthcare claims and legal expenses weighed on operating margins. Management also flagged tariffs as a potential risk to the cost structure in the coming quarters.

Drivers of Future Performance

Management expects ongoing investments in technology, process improvement, and customer expansion to shape the company’s performance in the next year.

• ERP and Digital Initiatives: The completion of foundational ERP modules and subsequent supply chain enhancements are expected to unlock inventory sharing and procurement efficiencies. Management believes these changes will drive gradual margin expansion, though many benefits are not anticipated until late 2027 and beyond.

• Growth in Mid-Sized Accounts: The company aims to accelerate new account wins, particularly among mid-sized customers, by leveraging its restructured sales organization. This focus is expected to drive organic revenue growth, with enhanced service operations supporting retention and upsell opportunities.

• Margin Headwinds and Operational Leverage: UniFirst continues to face near-term margin pressure from investment spending, healthcare costs, and tariffs. Management anticipates that as major initiatives are completed, operating leverage will improve, allowing for stronger profitability in subsequent years.

Catalysts in Upcoming Quarters

Looking ahead, the StockStory team will be focused on (1) the pace and results of UniFirst’s ERP and digital transformation milestones, (2) continued progress in acquiring and retaining mid-sized accounts, and (3) the company’s ability to offset cost pressures from tariffs and healthcare claims. While management has discussed plans for new facility services product launches as a future initiative, these are not expected to be near-term catalysts. Additionally, regarding the Cintas acquisition proposal, management indicated they would only provide an update once their review is complete, so further clarity may not be imminent.

UniFirst currently trades at $192.90, down from $202.96 just before the earnings. Is there an opportunity in the stock?Find out in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members).

Workplace uniform provider UniFirst reported Q4 CY2025 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 2.7% year on year to $621.3 million. The company expects the full year’s revenue to be around $2.49 billion, close to analysts’ estimates. Its GAAP profit of $1.89 per share was 5.1% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

UniFirst (UNF) Q4 CY2025 Highlights:

• Revenue: $621.3 million vs analyst estimates of $615.3 million (2.7% year-on-year growth, 1% beat)
• EPS (GAAP): $1.89 vs analyst expectations of $1.99 (5.1% miss)
• Adjusted EBITDA: $82.81 million vs analyst estimates of $88.45 million (13.3% margin, 6.4% miss)
• The company reconfirmed its revenue guidance for the full year of $2.49 billion at the midpoint
• EPS (GAAP) guidance for the full year is $6.78 at the midpoint, roughly in line with what analysts were expecting
• Operating Margin: 7.3%, down from 9.2% in the same quarter last year
• Free Cash Flow was -$24.03 million, down from $24.56 million in the same quarter last year
• Market Capitalization: $3.67 billion

“Our first quarter performance was consistent with our expectations and reflects the impact of planned investments designed to accelerate growth and enhance operational efficiency,” said Steven Sintros, UniFirst President and Chief Executive Officer.

Company Overview

With a fleet of trucks making weekly deliveries to over 300,000 customer locations, UniFirst provides, rents, cleans, and maintains workplace uniforms and protective clothing for businesses across various industries.

Revenue Growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years.

With $2.45 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, UniFirst is a mid-sized business services company, which sometimes brings disadvantages compared to larger competitors benefiting from better economies of scale. On the bright side, it can still flex high growth rates because it’s working from a smaller revenue base.

As you can see below, UniFirst’s sales grew at a decent 6.5% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This shows its offerings generated slightly more demand than the average business services company, a useful starting point for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss new innovations or demand cycles. UniFirst’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 3.5% over the last two years was below its five-year trend.

This quarter, UniFirst reported modest year-on-year revenue growth of 2.7% but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 1%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 2.4% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection is underwhelming and indicates its products and services will see some demand headwinds.

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Operating Margin

UniFirst was profitable over the last five years but held back by its large cost base. Its average operating margin of 7.4% was weak for a business services business.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, UniFirst’s operating margin decreased by 2.8 percentage points over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability. UniFirst’s performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows that costs were rising and it couldn’t pass them onto its customers.

In Q4, UniFirst generated an operating margin profit margin of 7.3%, down 1.9 percentage points year on year. This reduction is quite minuscule and indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

UniFirst’s EPS grew at a weak 2.1% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, lower than its 6.5% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded due to non-fundamental factors such as interest expenses and taxes.

We can take a deeper look into UniFirst’s earnings to better understand the drivers of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, UniFirst’s operating margin declined by 2.8 percentage points over the last five years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its lower earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

For UniFirst, its two-year annual EPS growth of 12.5% was higher than its five-year trend. This acceleration made it one of the faster-growing business services companies in recent history.

In Q4, UniFirst reported EPS of $1.89, down from $2.31 in the same quarter last year. This print missed analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects UniFirst’s full-year EPS of $7.56 to shrink by 5.1%.

Key Takeaways from UniFirst’s Q4 Results

It was good to see UniFirst narrowly top analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its EPS missed. Looking ahead, full-year EPS guidance roughly met expectations. Overall, this was a mixed quarter. The stock traded down 2.4% to $198 immediately following the results.

The latest quarter from UniFirst’s wasn’t that good. One earnings report doesn’t define a company’s quality, though, so let’s explore whether the stock is a buy at the current price. What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free for active Edge members.

Workplace uniform provider UniFirst will be reporting results this Wednesday before market hours. Here’s what you need to know.

UniFirst beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 1.1% last quarter, reporting revenues of $614.4 million, down 4% year on year. It was a slower quarter for the company, with a significant miss of analysts’ full-year EPS guidance estimates and full-year revenue guidance slightly missing analysts’ expectations.

Is UniFirst a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.

This quarter, analysts are expecting UniFirst’s revenue to grow 1.7% year on year to $615.3 million, in line with the 1.9% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.06 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. UniFirst has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates three times over the last two years.

Looking at UniFirst’s peers in the business services & supplies segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Cintas delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 9.3%, beating analysts’ expectations by 1.4%, and MillerKnoll reported a revenue decline of 1.6%, topping estimates by 1.3%. Cintas’s stock price was unchanged after the resultswhile MillerKnoll was up 7.9%.

Read our full analysis of Cintas’s results here and MillerKnoll’s results here.

Investors in the business services & supplies segment have had steady hands going into earnings, with share prices up 1.8% on average over the last month. UniFirst is up 12.5% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $167.33 (compared to the current share price of $206.39).

What Happened?

Shares of workplace uniform provider UniFirst jumped 18.4% in the afternoon session after the company confirmed it had received an unsolicited, non-binding acquisition proposal from Cintas Corporation for $275.00 per share in cash. 

The offer valued UniFirst at approximately $5.2 billion. This bid represented a significant 64% premium over the company's 90-day average closing stock price as of December 11, 2025. Following receipt of the proposal, UniFirst's Board of Directors stated it had engaged independent financial and legal advisors to carefully review the offer. The company noted that the board was evaluating the proposal to determine the course of action it believed was in the best interests of its shareholders and other stakeholders.

What Is The Market Telling Us

UniFirst’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 6 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for UniFirst and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.

The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 9 months ago when the stock dropped 13.7% on the news that Cintas terminated talks to acquire the company (UNF) in a deal that would have been worth $275 per share in cash. The offer price represented a premium of 46% over the stock's average trading price before the news of the offer was made public.

UniFirst is up 17.9% since the beginning of the year, but at $200.79 per share, it is still trading 12.9% below its 52-week high of $230.50 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of UniFirst’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $974.19.