UNFUniFirst Corporation
Is the business good?
The checks split: nothing decisive, though earnings fully cash-backed (2.2×).
Mixed fundamental signals. Nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year health from the filings.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash.
Operating profit is falling even as sales grow, costs are outrunning the top line.
A balanced mix of margins, efficiency, and leverage. ROE 6% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is UNF?
UniFirst Corporation earns 5.6% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 3.4 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 5.8%
Operating margin · Specialty Business Services median 6.8% · 12 months to Q3 2026
- Cash conversion
- 2.16×
Cash conversion · 2.09× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- −2.1%
Share count, year on year · bought back, each share owns more of the company
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 9.6% |
| FY2021 | 11% |
| FY2022 | 6.7% |
| FY2023 | 6.0% |
| FY2024 | 7.6% |
| FY2025 | 7.6% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 37%
- Operating margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 5.8%
- Net margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 4.7%
- Free cash flow margin
- 3.5%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $2.49B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $88M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $116M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 5.6%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.
Specialty Business Services
Ranks #14 of 22 by RyuScore