Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) reported Q3 EPS of $1.83, $0.12 better than the analyst estimate of $1.71. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.68 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion.

“We remain committed to effectively deploying cash to increase shareholder value,” stated Mr. Farmer. “In this year’s third quarter, we paid an annual dividend totaling $220.8 million. The dividend of $2.05 per share was an increase of 26.5% over last year’s dividend. In addition, we purchased $100.0 million of Cintas stock under our buyback program in our third quarter. As of February 28, 2019, we have now purchased $546.6 million of Cintas stock during fiscal 2019, and the amount remaining under our buyback program is $863.4 million.”

Mr. Farmer added, “Strong financial performance is a result of the dedication of our employee-partners to getting our customers Ready for the Workday™. I thank our employee-partners for exceeding customer expectations while also making significant progress on integrating the G&K acquisition and converting more operations to our new enterprise resource planning system.”

Mr. Farmer concluded, “We are updating our annual guidance for fiscal 2019. We expect revenue to be in the range of $6.870 billion to $6.885 billion. This implies a strong finish to our fiscal 2019 with fiscal fourth quarter revenue growth in the range of 6% to 7% and operating income margin in the range of 17.0% to 17.5%. We expect EPS from continuing operations excluding certain items to be in the range of $7.42 to $7.48. This guidance does not include any potential deterioration in the U.S. economy, future share buybacks, or any future integration expenses related to the acquisition of G&K.”

GUIDANCE:

Cintas Corp. sees FY2019 EPS of $7.42-$7.45, versus the consensus of $7.34. Cintas Corp. sees FY2019 revenue of $6.87-6.885 billion, versus the consensus of $6.89 billion.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Cintas Corp. (CTAS) click here.