Cintas (CTAS) reported its second quarter 2019 earnings results, which surpassed analysts’ estimates. The business service provider’s EPS excluding certain items was $1.76 on revenues of $1.72 billion. Analysts had expected the company to post earnings of $1.70 per share on revenues of $1.70 billion. Cintas stock rose about 4% in the extended trading hours.
For fiscal 2019, Cintas lifted its EPS and revenue outlook. EPS is expected to be between $7.30 and $7.38 versus the prior estimate of $7.19 to $ 7.29. Revenue is expected to be between $6.87 billion and $6.91 billion compared to the prior forecast of $6.800 billion to $6.855 billion. The company estimates G&K integration expenses to range from $18 million to $22 million for FY19.
“We continue to make significant progress on integrating the G&K acquisition and implementing our enterprise resource planning system. The Company is on pace to achieve another year of strong growth in revenue, earnings, and cash flow generation,” said CEO Scott Farmer.
On December 7, the company paid an annual dividend of $2.05 per share, up 26.5% over last year’s annual dividend. Through the end of Q2, the company had purchased $447 million of Cintas stock under the buyback program.
Related: Cintas Q1 2019 earnings call transcript
Shares of Cintas have dropped 25% in the last three months and have not moved much in the past one year. The stock ended Thursday’s session by dropping 3.65% to $159.04.