Cintas Prepares Customers For Storms, Issues Safety Tips

Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) has taken an initiative to provide details on the utility of back-up emergency and exit lights to all organizations. These automatic functioning lights are highly useful to United States where the incidence of power outage is higher than any other developed country. Encouragingly, elevated usage of these lights will likely spur demand for Cintas’ services, moving ahead.

A survey conducted by Harris Insights & Analytics revealed that more than 34% of American adults consider their buildings unsafe during power loss. Notably, around 15 million individuals witness power cuts in the nation every year, making back-up emergency and exit lights a necessity.

Cintas perceives that requirement of these lights will be even stronger in the upcoming U.S. summer season, when the frequency of power outages will be higher due to the occurrence of storms. Occurrences of harsh storms have been on a rise, of late, averaging between 70 and 130, every year.

In this context, Cintas noted that back-up emergency and exit lights are essential for ensuring safety of building occupants during the summer storm season. In sync with this, the company specified that the facility and property managers should visually inspect their back-up lights regularly. Moreover, Cintas stated that managers should conduct complete functional tests and maintain thorough records of inspection for these lights.

The aforementioned initiatives by facility and property managers will spur demand for Cintas’ non-imitable safety and first-aid services. Over the past month, the company’s shares have rallied 8%, outperforming the 6.6% gain recorded by the industry.

The company is poised to grow on the back of the successful integration of G&K Services (acquired in March 2017), adequate liquidity and ongoing capital investments. Per our estimates, the company’s earnings are projected to grow 19.7% in fiscal 2019 (ending May 2019).

Zacks Rank and Other Stocks

Cintas currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other top-ranked stocks within the Zacks Industrial Products are listed below:

Axon Enterprise, Inc (NASDAQ:AAXN) sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). The company pulled off an outstanding average positive earnings surprise of 330% over the last four quarters. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) also carries a Zacks Rank #1. The company generated an average positive earnings surprise of 11.61% over the trailing four quarters.

Acco Brands Corporation (NYSE:ACCO) holds a Zacks Rank of 2. The company came with up an average positive earnings surprise of 11.06% during the same time frame.

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