Cintas vs Leidos
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The short version
- Leidos is the larger business, with $17.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $11.3B for Cintas, about 1.5 times as much.
- Cintas grew revenue faster (8.9%, against 3.1%).
- Cintas kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (23.1% operating margin, against 12.3%).
- Cintas turned more of its sales into free cash flow (16.7% FCF margin, against 9.5%).
- Cintas earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (31.7%, against 19.3%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Cintas’s earnings: a P/E of 44.2x against 12.7x for Leidos.
| Latest fiscal year | CTAS · FY26 | LDOS · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $90.6B | $17.1B |
| Revenue | $11.3B | $17.2B |
| Free cash flow | $1.9B | $1.6B |
| Net income | $2.0B | $1.4B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 8.9% | 3.1% |
| 5-year growth | 9.6% | 6.9% |
| Share count change | −1.0% | −4.4% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 50.7% | 18.0% |
| Operating margin | 23.1% | 12.3% |
| Net margin | 17.8% | 8.4% |
| FCF margin | 16.7% | 9.5% |
| Return on capital | 31.7% | 19.3% |
| Return on equity | 40.7% | 31.1% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.1B | $3.5B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.4x | 1.5x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $1.7B | $611M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 44.2x | 12.7x |
| Piotroski F-score | 8 | 9 |
Revenue
FY17
CTAS $5.3B
LDOS $10.2B
FY18
CTAS $6.5B
LDOS $10.2B
FY19
CTAS $6.9B
LDOS $11.1B
FY20
CTAS $7.1B
LDOS $12.3B
FY21
CTAS $7.1B
LDOS $13.7B
FY22
CTAS $7.9B
LDOS $14.4B
FY23
CTAS $8.8B
LDOS $15.4B
FY24
CTAS $9.6B
LDOS $16.7B
FY25
CTAS $10.3B
LDOS $17.2B
FY26
CTAS $11.3B
LDOS —
CTAS
LDOS
Operating margin
FY17
CTAS 14.5%
LDOS 5.5%
FY18
CTAS 14.7%
LDOS 7.4%
FY19
CTAS 16.5%
LDOS 8.2%
FY20
CTAS 16.4%
LDOS 8.1%
FY21
CTAS 19.5%
LDOS 8.4%
FY22
CTAS 20.2%
LDOS 7.6%
FY23
CTAS 20.5%
LDOS 4.0%
FY24
CTAS 21.6%
LDOS 11.0%
FY25
CTAS 22.8%
LDOS 12.3%
FY26
CTAS 23.1%
LDOS —
CTAS
LDOS
Free cash flow
FY17
CTAS $491M
LDOS $445M
FY18
CTAS $692M
LDOS $695M
FY19
CTAS $791M
LDOS $871M
FY20
CTAS $1.1B
LDOS $1.2B
FY21
CTAS $1.2B
LDOS $929M
FY22
CTAS $1.3B
LDOS $863M
FY23
CTAS $1.3B
LDOS $980M
FY24
CTAS $1.7B
LDOS $1.3B
FY25
CTAS $1.8B
LDOS $1.6B
FY26
CTAS $1.9B
LDOS —
CTAS
LDOS
Return on capital
FY17
CTAS 13.4%
LDOS 8.5%
FY18
CTAS 17.1%
LDOS 11.7%
FY19
CTAS 16.3%
LDOS 11.9%
FY20
CTAS 16.9%
LDOS 11.6%
FY21
CTAS 22.8%
LDOS 10.7%
FY22
CTAS 24.8%
LDOS 9.3%
FY23
CTAS 24.1%
LDOS 3.6%
FY24
CTAS 27.0%
LDOS 16.8%
FY25
CTAS 29.4%
LDOS 19.3%
FY26
CTAS 31.7%
LDOS —
CTAS
LDOS
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.