UniFirst 3Q Earnings Top By $0.15, Offers In-Line Forecast For Full Year

UniFirst Corporation UNF announced 7.2 percent drop in net income for the third quarter though revenue managed to grow 0.06 percent from the previous year period. However, its earnings and revenues came in above the expectations. The company also provided in-line revenue guidance for the fiscal year 2016.

UniFirst reported net income of $30.1 million or $1.49 a share for the third quarter compared to $32.5 million or $1.61 a share in the year-ago quarter representing a drop of 7.2 percent. But this exceeded the Street analysts' expectations by $0.15 a share.

The company said its third quarter revenues rose 0.6 percent to $367.8 million from $365.6 million in the previous year quarter. Analysts' had a consensus revenue estimation of $366.28 million.

UniFirst President and CEO, Ronald Croatti, said, "Our growth during the third quarter continued to be negatively impacted by the loss of uniform wearers and customers in energy dependent markets in the United States and Canada as well as uneven growth in recent non-farm payroll employment. We are addressing these challenges by continuing our focus on matters within our control, such as providing high quality service to our broad customer base."

Moving ahead, Croatti added, "At this time, we expect that our fiscal 2016 revenues will be between $1.460 billion and $1.470 billion and continue to believe that our full year diluted EPS will be between $5.45 and $5.65." Street analysts are looking for EPS of $5.57 on revenue of $1.46 billion.

Following the results, the stock traded 7.08 percent higher.