Dallas, Texas 11/08/2013 (Financialstrend) – The $2 billion market capped textile and apparel chain UniFirst Corp (NYSE:UNF) has been the bearer of good news to its share holders during the past couple of weeks. The most recent news was the announcement of quarterly dividend of $0.0375 per share to all its share holders on record as of December 10. The stock goes ex dividend on December 6 and will get paid out on January 7. This payout translates to a 0.15% dividend yield for the past 12 months.
Earlier in the month on October 23, the firm had announced robust fourth quarter results. It had managed to bring in revenue of $352 million which was a 13% increase in comparison to revenue in 3Q12. It was also well above the analyst estimation by close to $4.6 million. Similarly its fourth quarter earnings per share came in at $1.52 which was $0.12 above the Wall Street estimate. Post the earnings call, the stock had posted steady gains which were later shed by the stock during trading the previous week. Over all the stock has appreciated by more than 4.3% during trading last month and a staggering 43% in the past one year.
As of start of trading on November 7, the stock was trading at $102 per share well below the analyst set price target of $105 per share. At current valuations the stock is just 3.2% below its 52 week high price point of $105 per share. The performance of the stock and the third quarter results are highly commendable since larger cloths and garment retailers have been struggling to report positive results. They have cited falling same store sales figures and depressed demand in the run up to the holiday seasons as key reasons for the downward trends. Unlike the big players, UniFirst seems to have its loyal customers who are driving its steady sales.
