02:42 PM EDT, 10/23/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Shares of UniFirst ( UNF ) tumbled intraday Wednesday after the uniform rental company guided for a year-over-year deceleration in fiscal 2025 earnings amid a challenging pricing environment that's weighing on retention rates.

The company is estimating earnings per share in the range of $6.79 to $7.19 for the ongoing year, marking a deceleration from the $7.77 EPS it reported for the year that ended Aug. 31, which was up about 40% on a year-over-year basis.

The company guided full-year revenue in the range of $2.43 billion to $2.45 billion, compared with $2.43 billion reported for fiscal 2024, which was up 8.7% year over year.

Four analysts surveyed by Capital IQ are modeling for EPS and revenue of $7.94 and $2.46 billion, respectively, for fiscal 2025. Shares of UniFirst ( UNF ) were down 5% by Wednesday afternoon.

"As the market emerged from a period of significantly elevated inflation levels, the more challenging pricing environment and its corresponding impact on our retention rates has impacted our sequential revenue trends which will impact growth rates in fiscal (2025)," Chief Executive Steven Sintros told analysts on a conference call, according to a Capital IQ transcript.

The company expects organic growth in its core laundry business between 1.3% and 2.3% in 2025, which Sintros on the call said "are not the growth rates we ultimately aspire to deliver." The company's reported revenue growth for the unit came in at 9.1% in 2024.

For the fourth quarter, UniFirst's ( UNF ) revenue was up about 12% at $639.9 million. Earnings per share advanced to $2.39 from $1.47. Four analysts surveyed by Capital IQ were looking for revenue of $634.7 million in the three-month period ended in August and $1.97 in EPS.

Price: 180.91, Change: -9.03, Percent Change: -4.75