Zebra Technologies, a maker of enterprise systems for managing inventory and assets, on Thursday beat Wall Street's targets for the fourth quarter but gave a mixed outlook for the current period. ZBRA stock rose on the news.
The Lincolnshire, Ill.-based company earned an adjusted $4.75 a share on sales of $1.5 billion in the December quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Zebra to earn $4.58 a share on sales of $1.45 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Zebra earnings rose 5% while sales increased 2%.
For the current quarter, Zebra predicted earnings of $3.85 a share on sales of $1.4 billion. That's based on the midpoint of its guidance. Wall Street was forecasting earnings of $4.11 a share on sales of $1.39 billion. In the year-earlier period, Zebra earned $4.01 a share on sales of $1.43 billion.
For full-year 2023, Zebra predicted sales of $5.72 billion, down 1%, based on the midpoint of its outlook. In 2022, sales rose nearly 3% to $5.78 billion.
ZBRA Stock Rises After Report
"Although our order backlog and pipeline of opportunities remain healthy, we are taking a cautious approach to our outlook in this uncertain macro environment," Chief Executive Anders Gustafsson said in a news release.
On the stock market today, ZBRA stock rose 2% to close at 333.44. It ended the regular session Wednesday up 2.6% to 327.02.
Zebra makes rugged mobile computers, bar code scanners and printers, and RFID tracking tags that link to enterprise systems to enable real-time visibility of inventory and other assets. It offers systems for retail, e-commerce, health care, manufacturing, transportation and other industries.
Zebra Seeing Elongated Sales Cycles
"From a macro perspective, what we're seeing is mixed signals more than anything that's driving us to be cautious," Chief Financial Officer Nathan Winters told Investor's Business Daily. "We're seeing a bit of an elongated sales cycle and some softening of demand by select large customers, which is driving some delays and push-outs (of purchases)."
However, customers continue to see the value of Zebra's products for driving digital transformation, so its order backlog remains strong, he said.
ZBRA stock ranks seventh out of 36 stocks in IBD's Electronics-Miscellaneous Products industry group, according to IBD Stock Checkup. It has a middling IBD Composite Rating of 67 out of 99.
The Composite Rating scores a stock's key growth metrics against all other stocks regardless of industry group.
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