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Can High Rental Uniform Sales Aid Cintas (CTAS) Q2 Earnings?

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Leading business service provider Cintas Corporation (CTAS - Free Report) is scheduled to report second-quarter fiscal 2018 results after the closing bell on Dec 21. The company is likely to report higher revenues from Rental Uniforms and Ancillary Products segment, which accounts for the lion’s share of total revenues, due to improved demand for its products.

This, in turn, is likely to result in higher earnings for the quarter.

Top-Line Improvement

Cintas recorded industry leading revenue growth over the past few quarters with continued focus on core businesses. New business wins, deeper penetration of existing customers with more products and services, and customer retention remain key strengths of the company. In addition, Cintas also identifies additional product and service opportunities for its current and future customers to expand its portfolio. This focused approach for steady top-line growth is likely to benefit the company in the to-be-reported quarter as well.

Moreover, the successful integration of G&K Services Inc. is likely to expand Cintas’ customer profile and augment its revenues. With annual revenues of approximately $1 billion, G&K Services has more than 170,000 customers in the United States and Canada. The combined company is expected to cater more than one billion business customers with an extended product portfolio and additional processing capacity. Customer service is also likely to improve with increased route density.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Rental Uniforms and Ancillary Products segment revenues is currently pegged at $1,296 million, up from $1,006 million reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenues from First Aid Safety and Protection segment are expected to be $137 million compared with reported revenues of $125 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Other Key Factors

However, a persistently challenging macroeconomic environment has mostly driven customers to perform certain in-house services themselves instead of outsourcing them to Cintas. This is expected to result in some loss of businesses. In addition, significant international operations expose it to risks of fluctuation in foreign exchange rates, which in turn, is likely to impact its financial results.

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Cintas is likely to beat earnings this quarter as it does not possess the key components. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. This is perfectly the case here as you will see below:

Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is -4.19% as the former is pegged at $1.20 and the latter at $1.25. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Cintas Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

 

Cintas Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Cintas Corporation Quote

Zacks Rank: Cintas has a Zacks Rank #2. Although this increases the predictive power of ESP, we need a positive ESP to make us reasonably confident of an earnings beat.

Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing a negative estimate revisions momentum.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

Accenture plc (ACN - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.26% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Salesforce.com (CRM - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.02% and a Zacks Rank #3.

PayPal Holdings (PYPL - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.86% and a Zacks Rank #2.

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