Cintas poised for more gains

Article Excerpt

CINTAS CORP. $33 (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 137.6 million; Market cap: $4.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cintas.com) gets 70% of its revenue by supplying uniforms to businesses. The remaining 30% comes from selling other business services and products, such as doormats, restroom supplies, document shredding, and fire alarms and extinguishers. It has over 800,000 clients, mainly in North America. The company’s revenue is improving with the overall economy. As well, Cintas has expanded its salesforce. That’s helping it win new clients and sell more services to its existing customers. As a result, Cintas’s revenue rose 7.4% in the fiscal year ended May 31, 2011, to $3.8 billion from $3.5 billion in fiscal 2010. The uniform division’s revenue rose 4.8%, and revenue from other services gained 14.3%. As well, Cintas spent $171.6 million to buy smaller, related companies during the year. Earnings rose 14.5%, to $247.0 million from $215.6 million in…