01:05 PM EDT, 06/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- UniFirst ( UNF ) lifted its fiscal 2024 earnings outlook after reporting third quarter top- and bottom-line gains amid revenue growth in its core laundry division and easier cost comparisons.

The uniform and protective clothing maker continues to forecast full-year revenue between $2.42 billion and $2.43 billion but upped its earnings per share guidance to between $7.17 and $7.49 from a prior $6.80 to $7.16 range. Its shares jumped 13% in Wednesday trade.

Four analysts surveyed by Capital IQ are modeling for revenue of $2.42 and GAAP EPS of $6.92 for the ongoing year.

The new outlook implies core laundry division organic growth of roughly 3.5% at the midpoint in the fourth quarter, Chief Executive Steven Sintros told analysts on a conference call, according to a Capital IQ transcript.

Sintros expects fiscal 2025 organic growth to be "more modest" than in the fourth quarter due to ongoing trends tied to inflation. "During the last few quarters, as the market has emerged from a period of significantly elevated inflation levels, we have discussed a more challenging pricing environment and its impact on our sequential organic growth rates," he said.

For the fiscal third quarter, revenue advanced to $603.3 million from $576.7 million the year earlier. Analysts were modeling for revenue of $601.3 million for the three months ended May 25. Core laundry operations revenue grew by 5.3% to $528.5 million, more than offsetting a 3.7% revenue decline in its specialty garments division.

Core laundry's organic growth was 4.7%, reflecting "solid new account sales, including a large national account we installed in our first fiscal quarter of 2024 and the impact of pricing efforts over the last year," Chief Financial Officer Shane O'Connor said on the call.

EPS increased to $2.03 from $1.29 year over year. Four analysts were forecasting UniFirst's ( UNF ) GAAP EPS at $1.70 for the third quarter. Income growth partly reflected favorable healthcare and legal costs compared with the same period of 2023, Sintros said.

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