Barrington Research Sees Strong Q1/15 Revenue For UniFirst Corp

In a report published Friday, Barrington Research analyst Kevin Steinke reiterated a Market Perform rating on

. In the report, Barrington Research noted, “Q1/15 revenue increased 6.8% YOY to $370.4 million, 2.9% higher than our estimate and 1.6% better than the consensus. The Core Laundry segment (91% of revenue) drove upside to our estimate. Core Laundry organic growth remained solid at 7.8%, a sequential improvement from 7.5% in Q4/14. Growth was driven by record new account sales and pricing gains. Growth also benefited from uniform wearer additions versus reductions among existing customers, which were modestly positive in the quarter and improved slightly versus the year-ago period. EPS of $1.85 grew 8% YOY, exceeding our estimate ($1.65) and the consensus ($1.67). EPS upside was aided by Core Laundry operating margin, which improved 10 bps YOY to 16.9% -- better than our estimate of 15.8%.” UniFirst Corp closed on Thursday at $115.50.