CINTAS CORP. $38 - Nasdaq symbol CTAS

CINTAS CORP. $38 (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 126.5 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cintas.com) earned $297.6 million in its 2012 fiscal year, which ended May 31, 2012. That’s up 20.5% from $247.0 million in 2011. Earnings per share jumped 35.1%, to $2.27 from $1.68, on fewer shares outstanding.

Revenue rose 7.7% in 2012, to a record $4.1 billion from $3.8 billion. If you exclude contributions from acquisitions, revenue still rose 6.1%.

The company continues to see rising demand for the uniforms and services, such as document shredding, that it sells to businesses. It is also doing a good job of controlling its costs.

Even with the U.S. economy’s uncertain outlook, Cintas expects its earnings to rise to $2.53 a share in fiscal 2013. The stock trades at a reasonable 15.0 times that forecast.

Cintas is a buy.

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