Cintas(US:CTAS) Benzinga·2025-12-18 16:04Core Viewpoint - Cintas Corporation reported strong second-quarter earnings, exceeding profit estimates and raising its full-year forecast, which positively impacted its stock price [1]. Financial Performance - The company achieved second-quarter earnings per share of $1.21, surpassing the analyst consensus estimate of $1.20 [1]. - Quarterly sales reached $2.80 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth of 9.3%, and exceeded the expected $2.766 billion [1]. - Gross margin for the second quarter was $1.41 billion, a 10.6% increase from the previous year, with a gross margin percentage of 50.4%, up from 49.8% [3]. - Operating income rose by 10.9% year over year to $655.7 million, with an operating margin improvement to 23.4% from 23.1% [3]. - The company ended the quarter with cash and equivalents totaling $200.842 million [3]. Outlook - Cintas raised its fiscal 2026 GAAP EPS outlook to a range of $4.81 to $4.88, compared to the previous range of $4.74 to $4.86, aligning closely with the analyst consensus of $4.85 [4]. - The fiscal 2026 sales forecast was also increased to a range of $11.150 billion to $11.220 billion, up from $11.060 billion to $11.180 billion, slightly above the Street estimate of $11.151 billion [4]. - Following these announcements, Cintas shares rose by 2.50% to $192.05 [4].