Stocks · Industrials · Specialty Business Services
UniFirst Corporation UNF
$252.89 +0.44% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $4.57B
Low risk
Next earnings report: Oct 28, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- The shares trade at 39.9× trailing earnings, higher than 95% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $6.34, down 22.1% year over year.
- The company holds net cash of $78.2M (cash above total debt).
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 6, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 24%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 25%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 24%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 40%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 40%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 43%
- Gross marginTop 31%
- Operating marginBottom 44%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 31%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 47%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 17%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 48%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 37%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 44%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 43%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 6%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 11%
- 6-month returnBottom 44%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 19%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 33%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 41%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 48%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 45%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 1%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 10%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 2%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 22%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 8%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 17%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 0.8% | 1.4% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -8.2% | -22.1% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 34.6% | 36.7% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 7.7% | 5.8% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 6.1% | 3.5% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 1.4% | 0.8% | ↑ | Bottom 24% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -22.1% | -8.2% | ↓ | Bottom 25% |
| Gross margin | 36.7% | 34.6% | ↑ | Top 31% |
| Operating margin | 5.8% | 7.7% | ↓ | Bottom 44% |
| Net margin | 4.6% | 6.2% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 3.5% | 6.1% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 4.4% | — | Bottom 43% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 6.7% | — | Top 40% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.06×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -4.4%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +3.5 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -0.26×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.55%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 1.72%
- Shareholder yield
- 2.26%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -2.1%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -1.0%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through May 30, 2026 (filed Jul 8, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +4.6%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -1.7%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $262.00
- Target vs current price
- +3.6%
- Analysts with a rating
- 6
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 0%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 1, 2026 | +13.6% | +0.8% | +3.0% | +13.9% | -2.5% |
| Apr 1, 2026 | +5.0% | +1.2% | +2.7% | +1.7% | +5.8% |
| Jan 7, 2026 | -7.8% | -3.0% | -1.7% | -0.0% | +26.1% |
| Oct 22, 2025 | +7.5% | -4.8% | -8.0% | -8.5% | +21.0% |
| Jul 2, 2025 | +2.4% | -10.2% | -9.7% | -10.5% | -13.2% |
| Apr 2, 2025 | +3.7% | +1.0% | -7.7% | +1.8% | +6.2% |
| Jan 8, 2025 | +8.1% | +4.8% | +12.6% | +9.2% | -20.2% |
| Oct 23, 2024 | +22.1% | -3.1% | -2.5% | +1.5% | +19.4% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 1, 2026 | $2.17 | $1.91 | +13.6% | $634.4M |
| Apr 1, 2026 | $1.25 | $1.19 | +5.0% | $622.5M |
| Jan 7, 2026 | $1.89 | $2.05 | -7.8% | $621.3M |
| Oct 22, 2025 | $2.28 | $2.12 | +7.5% | $614.4M |
| Jul 2, 2025 | $2.17 | $2.12 | +2.4% | $610.8M |
| Apr 2, 2025 | $1.40 | $1.35 | +3.7% | $602.2M |
| Jan 8, 2025 | $2.40 | $2.22 | +8.1% | $604.9M |
| Oct 23, 2024 | $2.49 | $2.04 | +22.1% | $639.9M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 39.9× | 27.4× | 95th | Bottom 48% |
| P/E (forward) | 34.0× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 15.2× | — | — | Top 44% |
| EV / Sales | 1.80× | — | — | Top 43% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 1.90% | — | — | Bottom 37% |
| Earnings yield | 2.51% | — | — | Bottom 48% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 19.5× – 43.0× since May 29, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +51.2%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -22.1%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +103.4%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.2%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +3.7%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -8.9%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -0.5%
- RSI (14)
- 28.9
- Relative volume
- 0.62×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 17.7%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 2th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.46
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.18
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -16.0%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -34.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 10, 2021 | Nov 6, 2025 | -41.7% | 1172 days | 80 days (Mar 5, 2026) |
| Oct 12, 2020 | Oct 27, 2020 | -18.1% | 11 days | 33 days (Dec 14, 2020) |
| Jul 29, 2026 | Sep 30, 2026 | -16.8% | 44 days | Not yet recovered |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $4.57B
- P/E (TTM)
- 39.9
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $6.34
- Revenue (TTM)
- $2.49B
- Dividend yield
- 0.58%
- 52-week range
- $147.66 – $306.67
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.83B | $2.00B | $2.23B | $2.43B | $2.43B |
| Gross profit | $684.9M | $694.4M | $751.8M | $847.6M | $749.6M |
| Operating income | $195.8M | $134.4M | $133.6M | $183.6M | $184.5M |
| Net income | $151.1M | $103.4M | $103.7M | $145.5M | $148.3M |
| EPS (diluted) | $7.94 | $5.46 | $5.53 | $7.77 | $7.98 |
| Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $639.9M | $604.9M | $602.2M | $610.8M | $614.4M | $621.3M | $622.5M | $634.4M |
| Net income | $44.6M | $43.1M | $24.5M | $39.7M | $41.0M | $34.4M | $20.5M | $19.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.39 | $2.31 | $1.31 | $2.13 | $2.23 | $1.89 | $1.13 | $1.09 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $212.3M | $122.6M | $215.8M | $295.3M | $295.7M |
| Capital expenditure | -$133.6M | -$144.3M | -$172.0M | -$160.4M | -$154.3M |
| Free cash flow | $78.7M | -$21.7M | $43.8M | $134.9M | $141.4M |
| Dividends paid | -$18.1M | -$20.8M | -$22.1M | -$23.3M | -$24.6M |
| Net share buybacks | -$11.2M | -$44.4M | -$2.9M | -$23.8M | -$70.9M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $168.9M
- Total assets
- $2.82B
- Total liabilities
- $622.6M
- Total debt
- $85.0M
- Net debt
- -$78.2M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $2.20B
As of May 30, 2026 (filed Jul 8, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 4, 2026 | $0.37 | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Jun 5, 2026 | $0.37 | Jun 26, 2026 |
| Mar 6, 2026 | $0.37 | Mar 27, 2026 |
| Dec 5, 2025 | $0.37 | Jan 2, 2026 |
| Sep 5, 2025 | $0.35 | Sep 26, 2025 |
| Jun 6, 2025 | $0.35 | Jun 27, 2025 |
| Mar 7, 2025 | $0.35 | Mar 28, 2025 |
| Dec 6, 2024 | $0.35 | Jan 3, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 871,484
- Days to cover
- 2.59
- Change vs previous report
- +36.8%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jan 20, 1994
- 2-for-1
- Dec 4, 1989
- 2-for-1