Cintas earns $1.39 a share and lifts its outlook, but one extra workday supplied part of its 10.9% growth

Cintas (CTAS) reported revenue of $3.01 billion for its fiscal first quarter, up 10.9% from $2.72 billion, and adjusted earnings of $1.39 a share, up 15.8%, according to its earnings release filed with the SEC on Wednesday. Seeking Alpha reported that beat estimates by 4 cents a share and $30 million of revenue, in line with the $1.35 consensus we listed in Tuesday's preview. GAAP earnings were $1.36 a share after $14.4 million of costs tied to its pending UniFirst purchase.

The shares were little changed before the open, at $199.00, up 0.1%, according to Nasdaq data at 8:51 a.m. Eastern.

The number behind the 10.9%: one more workday

Cintas rents uniforms, mats and restroom supplies to businesses on service routes, and it treats the number of working days as a driver of revenue, adjusting for it in its own tables. This quarter had 66 of them against 65 a year earlier. The company's own table shows workday-adjusted growth of 9.2%, and 8.9% organic once acquisitions and currency are stripped out. So roughly 1.7 points of the headline growth came from the calendar, not from customers.

That still leaves close to 9% underlying growth, which is strong for a company this size. It is just not the 10.9% on the top line.

Where the growth came from

Segment margins are our arithmetic from the release's segment table. First aid and safety was the fastest grower, and its operating income rose 24% to $99.5 million. Total gross margin rose to 51.5% from 50.3%, and operating margin to 23.6% from 22.7%.

Who it hits

Cintas says it serves more than one million businesses of all types and sizes. For those customers, the release is mostly a reminder of pricing power: gross margin on uniform rental rose more than a point to 50.8%, while the company's cost of that service grew 7.3% against revenue growth of 9.7%. The release does not split growth into price and volume, so it cannot tell us how much of the gain came from new accounts versus higher bills on existing ones.

The guidance raise banks the beat

Cintas raised its fiscal 2027 revenue outlook to $12.15 billion to $12.27 billion, from $12.10 billion to $12.25 billion, and adjusted EPS to $5.45 to $5.54, from $5.36 to $5.50. The revenue midpoint rose about $35 million, close to the $30 million first-quarter beat Seeking Alpha reported, so the outlook for the remaining three quarters is roughly where it was. The EPS midpoint rose about 6.5 cents, more than the 4-cent beat. The full year also carries one extra workday, 261 against 260.

Guidance excludes UniFirst. Chief Executive Todd Schneider said the company is still working with the Federal Trade Commission on its review and expects the deal to close before the end of calendar 2026. Free cash flow rose to $464.8 million from $312.5 million, and Cintas bought back $544.7 million of stock during the quarter and through September 22.

Sources: Cintas Q1 fiscal 2027 release (SEC), Seeking Alpha, Nasdaq quote data. This is market information, not investment advice.