UniFirst Q4 2026: Revenue Beats, But Merger Costs Drag EPS Below Estimates
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 21, 2026.
Cintas merger fees and ERP costs took $0.71 out of diluted EPS, which is why the bottom line missed expectations even as revenue topped consensus. Guidance and quarterly calls are suspended until the deal closes, so there is no outlook to trade on, and an FTC timing agreement blocks completion before December 11.
Continue ReadingShow less
UniFirst's quarter splits cleanly between a top line that held up and a bottom line that did not, so the headline beat matters less than it looks. Revenue of $645.0 million topped consensus, with growth in both the Uniform and Facility Service Solutions and First Aid and Safety Solutions segments.
GAAP diluted EPS of $1.90 came in missing the $2.04 consensus, with transaction-related legal and advisory fees tied to the pending Cintas acquisition and ERP implementation costs taking $0.71 off diluted EPS in the quarter. Net income and operating income both fell from the year-ago period.
Those deal costs are not a one-quarter phenomenon: Cintas merger fees and ERP costs together reduced full-year diluted EPS by $2.08. Full-year GAAP EPS of $6.02 came in missing the $7.44 consensus, while full-year revenue edged past estimates.
Sponsored
Twelve Tabs, One Thesis
Your Research Resets Every Morning
The quote page in one tab. Filings in another. A chart you rebuilt from scratch, a transcript you never went back and found, a screener whose settings you will redo next week. Nothing you built yesterday is still there.
AlphaSpace replaces all of it with one screen you arrange yourself. Earnings calendar, estimate versus actual, the call transcript, live news, your own charts, every panel wired to whatever ticker you click. Close the browser and it is all still sitting there tomorrow.
See What a Built View Looks Like →
(Sponsor)
Investors looking for guidance or a conference call to trade on will find neither, because UniFirst has suspended both for as long as the Cintas deal remains pending. A timing agreement with the FTC prevents the transaction from closing before December 11, 2026, unless the agency concludes its review earlier, leaving an unusually wide information gap into the final weeks of the year.
UniFirst's near-term price action tracks deal developments ahead of operating results, with the underlying business still growing and $192.1 million in cash on the balance sheet. Until the Cintas transaction closes or hits a material regulatory obstacle, quarterly earnings are a secondary signal.
Mentioned: UNF