MeritValue

UNIFIRST CORP

UNFdata completeness 88%17 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

UNIFIRST CORP earns about 8% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 2% of its shares over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $81.13 and $433.71 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$1.83B1$2B2$2.23B3$2.43B3$2.43B3
Net income$151.1M4$103.4M5$103.7M6$145.5M6$148.3M6
Operating cash flow$212.3M7$122.6M8$215.8M9$295.3M9$296.9M9
Capital expenditure$133.6M10$144.3M11$172M12$160.4M12$154.3M12
Free cash flow (derived)$78.7M7−$21.7M8$43.8M9$134.9M9$142.5M9
Total debt—————
Cash & equivalents$512.9M13$376.4M14$79.4M15$161.6M16$203.5M16
Diluted shares19.0M18.9M18.8M18.7M18.6M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
$1,167.3
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$79.8
Free cash flow it threw off
$76.71
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $1,167.3 of net worth that earned you $79.8 and generated $76.71 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
8% avg · 5y
FY21 11%FY22 7%FY23 6%FY24 8%FY25 8%

It earned about 8% on invested capital against a ~9% cost of capital — below the cost of funding. The numbers show no moat.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−2% shares · 5y

Share count is down 2% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.1.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $81.13 and $433.71 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story; the Graham Number is a stricter floor, not a target.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$433.71
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth19.7%
  • fcfBase$134.9M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$244.69
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth19.7%
  • fcfBase$134.9M
Earnings Power Value
$81.13
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$145.5M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$144.77
assumptions (1)
  • grahamMultiplier2250.0%

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years19.7%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $244.69
The three cases
Bear0.0%$114.65
Base19.7%$244.69
Bull20.0%$247.57

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 19.7%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-28 · accession 0000950170-23-055282 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-27 · accession 0000950170-24-127140 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-26 · accession 0001193125-25-256222 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-28 · accession 0000950170-23-055282 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-27 · accession 0000950170-24-127140 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-26 · accession 0001193125-25-256222 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-28 · accession 0000950170-23-055282 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-27 · accession 0000950170-24-127140 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-26 · accession 0001193125-25-256222 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-28 · accession 0000950170-23-055282 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-27 · accession 0000950170-24-127140 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-26 · accession 0001193125-25-256222 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-28 · accession 0000950170-22-020172 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-27 · accession 0000950170-23-055282 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-26 · accession 0000950170-24-127140 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-08-31 · accession 0001193125-25-256222 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)