Food and facilities services provider Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) reported revenue ahead of Wall Street’s expectations in Q2 CY2026, with sales up 9.3% year on year to $5.06 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.52 per share was 7.2% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

From serving hot dogs at major league stadiums to managing college dining halls that feed thousands daily, Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) provides food services and facilities management to schools, healthcare facilities, businesses, sports venues, and correctional institutions across 16 countries.

Revenue Growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years.

With $19.85 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Aramark is a behemoth in the business services sector and benefits from economies of scale, giving it an edge in distribution. This also enables it to gain more leverage on its fixed costs than smaller competitors and the flexibility to offer lower prices.

As you can see below, Aramark’s sales grew at an excellent 12% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This is an encouraging starting point for our analysis because it shows Aramark’s demand was higher than many business services companies.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. Aramark’s annualized revenue growth of 5.3% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results were respectable.

This quarter, Aramark reported year-on-year revenue growth of 9.3%, and its $5.06 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 2.4%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 6% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection is above average for the sector and suggests its newer products and services will help support its recent top-line performance.

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Adjusted Operating Margin

Adjusted operating margin is one of the best measures of profitability because it tells us how much money a company takes home after subtracting all core expenses, like marketing and R&D. It also removes various one-time costs to paint a better picture of normalized profits.

Aramark’s adjusted operating margin has generally stayed the same over the last 12 months, averaging 5.1% over the last five years. This profitability was lousy for a business services business and caused by its suboptimal cost structure.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Aramark’s adjusted operating margin might have fluctuated slightly but has generally stayed the same over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability.

This quarter, Aramark generated an adjusted operating margin profit margin of 4.3%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.

Earnings Per Share

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth — for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Aramark’s full-year EPS flipped from negative to positive over the last five years. This is a good sign and shows it’s at an inflection point.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

Aramark’s EPS grew at a solid 12.5% compounded annual growth rate over the last two years, higher than its 5.3% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.

In Q2, Aramark reported adjusted EPS of $0.52, up from $0.40 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 7.2%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Aramark’s full-year EPS to grow 23.2% from $2.09 to $2.57.

Key Takeaways from Aramark’s Q2 Results

It was encouraging to see Aramark beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EPS outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a decent quarter with some key metrics above expectations. The stock remained flat at $55.74 immediately after reporting.

Aramark had an encouraging quarter, but one earnings result doesn’t necessarily make the stock a buy. Let’s see if this is a good investment. The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).