RTO vs UNF Stock Comparison

Rentokil Initial and Unifirst Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
UNF Unifirst Corp
$279.69 +7.9% 1M +73.2% 1Y
Market cap
$4.54B
P/E
44.0x
Revenue (TTM)
—
Div. yield
–
Facility Services Industrials
3 wins

Head to Head

5 decided of 12

Unifirst leads on 3 of the 12 questions below (Unifirst 3, Rentokil Initial 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionRTOUNFLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $11.55B $4.54B RTO
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only — 44.0x –
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 15.8x 35.5x RTO
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months — — –
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — — –
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — — –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — — –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -22.9% +73.2% UNF
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -11.3%/yr +7.1%/yr UNF
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 34.8% 32.8% UNF
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers — 41/100 –

Percentile Scorecard

RTOUNF

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisRTOUNF
Valuation – 41 #66 of 112
Growth – 20 #77 of 96
Profitability – –
Financial Health – 91 #12 of 125
Shareholder Returns 49 #35 of 67 11 #60 of 67
Overall – 41
  • RTO ranked among 130 companies in Business Services
  • UNF ranked among 130 companies in Business Services

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodRTOUNFSPY
1 month +9.4%+7.9% -0.8%
3 months -21.2%-6.0% +3.5%
6 months -32.5%+8.3% +7.0%
Year to date -23.3%+45.0% +12.2%
1 year -22.9%+73.2% +13.0%
3 years -11.3%+74.4% +86.3%
3 years, per year -3.9%+20.4% +23.1%
5 years -45.1%+40.8% +68.6%
5 years, per year -11.3%+7.1% +11.0%
10 years +54.3%+133.3% +258.0%
10 years, per year +4.4%+8.8% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureRTOUNFSPY
Volatility, 1Y 34.8%32.8% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 37.2%20.7% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.320.24 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.662.24 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -54.2%-34.9% -25.4%
From 52-week high -34.5%-7.2% -1.8%
52-week high $34.52$301.48 $779.14
52-week low $19.75$150.02 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleRTOUNF
P/E now vs peer median —median 21.9x 44.0xmedian 21.9x
P/S now vs peer median —median 0.9x 2.0xmedian 0.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 12.2x —median 12.2x
P/FCF now vs peer median —median 14.3x 57.8xmedian 14.3x
P/B now vs peer median —median 2.3x 2.3xmedian 2.3x
PEG now vs peer median —median 1.02 —median 1.02

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsRTOUNF
Net income – $109.49M
Cash & equivalents $2.47B $192.12M
Total debt -$7.31B –
Shares (diluted) 507.00M 18.22M
Enterprise value $5.07B $4.54B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricRTOUNF
P/E – 44.0x
P/FCF – 57.8x
P/Operating cash flow – 24.6x
P/S – 2.0x
P/B – 2.3x
P/Tangible book – 2.3x
EV/EBITDA – –
EV/EBIT – –
EV/Revenue – –
EV/FCF – –
EV/Operating cash flow – 24.6x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) – –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricRTOUNF
Revenue growth (1Y) – –
Revenue CAGR (3Y) – –
Gross profit growth (1Y) – –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – –
Operating income growth (1Y) – –
Operating income CAGR (3Y) – –
Net income growth (1Y) – -26.2%
Net income CAGR (3Y) – 1.8%
EPS growth (1Y) – –
EPS CAGR (3Y) – –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) – -30.9%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) – -1.6%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricRTOUNF
Gross margin – –
EBITDA margin – –
Operating margin – –
Pretax margin – –
Net margin – –
FCF margin – –
Operating cash flow margin – –
Return on equity – –
Return on assets – –
Return on invested capital – –
Return on capital employed – –
Asset turnover – –
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – 1.9x
Stock comp / revenue – –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricRTOUNF
Debt / assets -13.4% –
Debt / equity – –
Net debt / EBITDA – –
Debt / FCF – –
Liabilities / assets – 22.3%
Equity / assets – 77.7%
Interest coverage – –
Current ratio -683.2x 3.1x
Quick ratio -411.8x –
Cash ratio -411.8x –
Altman Z-score – –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricRTOUNF
Dividend yield 2.8% 0.5%
Net buyback yield – –
Shareholder yield 2.8% 0.5%
Payout ratio (earnings) – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusRTOUNF
Forward P/E 15.8xFY2026 35.5xFY2027
EPS, next fiscal year $1.43FY2026 $7.88FY2027
EPS growth, next FY +10.9%FY2026 -2.7%FY2027
EPS growth, the year after +2.1% +12.3%
Revenue, next fiscal year $7.01BFY2026 $2.79BFY2027
Revenue growth, next FY +1.5%FY2026 +10.8%FY2027
Revenue growth, the year after +13.5% -9.0%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersRTOUNF
Held by institutions 15.4% 81.3%
Institutions holding 287 340
Change in shares held, QoQ +5.9% -2.5%
Institutions buying 161 162
Institutions selling 90 121
Buyers to sellers 1.79 1.34

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

RTOUNF
RTO 1.00 0.37
UNF 0.37 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, RTO and UNF?

Rentokil Initial (RTO) is the largest by market capitalisation: Rentokil Initial (RTO) $11.55B, Unifirst (UNF) $4.54B.

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Unifirst (UNF) returned the most: Rentokil Initial (RTO) -22.9%, Unifirst (UNF) +73.2%. Over five years, Unifirst (UNF) compounded fastest (Rentokil Initial (RTO) -11.3%/yr, Unifirst (UNF) +7.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Unifirst (UNF) has been the steadiest (Rentokil Initial (RTO) 34.8%, Unifirst (UNF) 32.8%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do RTO and UNF move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.37, a weak relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, RTO and UNF?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Unifirst (UNF) leads on 3. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.