Symbotic stock sank nearly 40% Wednesday after the robotics automation company announced it needed more time to file its annual report, citing "material weaknesses" in controls over its financial reporting. Symbotic also lowered its sales guidance.
Symbotic stock lost 36% to close at 24 on the stock market today.
In a news release Wednesday, Symbotic said it identified instances where goods and services tied to specific milestones were expensed prior to the milestones being achieved.
Symbotic disclosed those issues in a fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report on Nov. 18 and included restated results for previous quarters. But the company said Wednesday it had discovered additional errors related to "cost overruns that will not be billable on certain deployments," which affected revenue recognized in its previous three quarters.
Symbotic estimates that the impact of correcting those errors "will be to lower system revenue, system gross profit, income (loss) before income tax, and adjusted EBITDA by $30 million to $40 million for fiscal year 2024, compared to the financial results released on November 18."
The firm also revised its outlook for the current quarter. Symbotic said it now expect sales between $480 million and $500 million for its fiscal first quarter. Its previous guidance forecast sales between $495 million and $515 million.
Symbotic Stock Struggling After Big 2023
Symbotic, which went public in 2022, offers a robotics automation platform utilized by retail clients such as Walmart, which is also an investor in Symbotic.
Shares rocketed more than 300% in 2023, but Symbotic is down more than 50% year to date, including Wednesday's slide.
Symbotic stock's Relative Strength Rating fell to 79 out of a best-possible 99, while shares broke below their 200-day, 50-day and 21-day moving averages, according to MarketSurge.
