Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) Q4 2024 Results Conference Call July 18, 2024 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Jared Mattingley - VP and Treasurer, IR
Todd Schneider - President and CEO
Mike Hansen - EVP and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Joshua Chan - UBS
Heather Balsky - Bank of America
Andy Wittmann - R.W. Baird
George Tong - Goldman Sachs
Tim Mulrooney - William Blair
Andrew Steinerman - JPMorgan
Jasper Bibb - Truist Securities
Manav Patnaik - Barclays
Scott Schneeberger - Oppenheimer
Adam Parrington - Stifel Nicolaus
Ashish Sabadra - RBC Capital Markets
Faiza Alwy - Deutsche Bank
Stephanie Moore - Jefferies

Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Cintas Corporation Announces Fiscal 2024 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results. Today's call is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Jared Mattingley, Vice President and Treasurer, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Jared Mattingley

Thank you, Ross. Thank you for joining us. With me is Todd Schneider, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Mike Hansen, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We'll discuss our fiscal '24 fourth quarter and full year results. After our commentary, we will open the call to questions from analysts.

Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor from civil litigation for forward-looking statements. This conference call contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current views as to future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those we may discuss. I refer you to the discussion on these points contained in our most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

I will now turn the call over to Todd.

Todd Schneider

Thank you, Jared. Our fourth quarter performance marked a strong finish to another successful year for Cintas. Fourth quarter total revenue grew 8.2% to $2.47 billion, an all-time high for revenue in a quarter. The organic growth rate, which adjusts for the impacts of acquisitions and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations was 7.5%. And importantly, each of our businesses continue to perform well and execute at a high level.

Fourth quarter gross margin was $1.22 billion, an increase of 11.6% over the prior year. Gross margin increased 150 basis points from 47.7% to 49.2%. Operating income for the fourth quarter of $547.6 million increased 16.3% over the prior year. Operating margin increased 160 basis points to 22.2% from 20.6% in the prior year. Fourth quarter net income was $414.3 million, an increase of 19.7%. Earnings per diluted share for the fourth quarter were $3.99, an increase of 19.8% over the prior year fourth quarter.