Is UNF a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores UniFirst Corporation on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how UNF compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is UniFirst Corporation's AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to UNF based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes UNF a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

UNF - UniFirst Corporation

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Hold DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $202.00 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Platform & Compounding FCF

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

C 54.4 / 100 composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for platform & compounding fcf businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

Profitability

Weight: 25%

D 36.8

5yr Avg ROIC 5.7% 39/100
Operating Margin Trend -0.54 pp/yr 32/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

C 52.0

5yr Avg ROE 6.0% 40/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR -0.6% 74/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 25%

C+ 59.8

5yr Revenue CAGR 7.4% 72/100
5yr EPS CAGR 0.1% 21/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 5/5 100/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 20%

C- 44.7

5yr FCF Margin 3.3% 42/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion 0.52x 49/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 10%

A+ 98.7

Net Debt / EBITDA -0.40x 97/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 30.00x 100/100
Altman Z-Score 7.12 100/100

Stability

Weight: 5%

B 73.9

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.24 64/100
Piotroski F-Score 6 67/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 0/5 100/100

1 of 2 gurus held; 1 trimmed; 3 full exits.

Holders: 1 -1
Avg Δ position: -58.1%
New buys: 0
Full exits: 3

Cooperman sold -100%
Dalio sold -100%
Wood sold -100%

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (25%) — 5yr Avg ROIC, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (15%) — 5yr Avg ROE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (25%) — 5yr Revenue CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Revenue-Growth Years (5)
Cash Generation (20%) — 5yr FCF Margin, 5yr FCF/NI Conversion
Balance Sheet (10%) — Net Debt / EBITDA, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int), Altman Z-Score
Stability (5%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.