Shares of barcode scanner and printer maker Zebra Technologies on Thursday edged towards a four-year high after the company beat profit estimates and said there are signs that business may bottom out. It was rising rapidly.
What Zebra sees could be important to the broader economic outlook, as Zebra’s customers come from many major markets, including retail, manufacturing, banking, transportation, healthcare, hospitality, and the public sector. There is a gender.
For the fourth quarter, the company
ZBRA
Overall sales fell by a third for the quarter and year, with double-digit declines in each market as customers absorbed capacity built during the pandemic to accommodate a surge in e-commerce activity. It was done.
Full-year 2023 sales decreased 25.5% year over year, after increasing 2.7% in 2022 and 26.5% in 2021.
However, sales in the first quarter are expected to be down 17%-20%, but improved from the fourth quarter, and sales will continue to improve from there, with full-year growth in 2024 expected to be -1 % to plus 3%. .
According to AlphaSense records, CEO Bill Burns said in a post-earnings call with analysts that, “Although there has been some improvement in order activity, there are still no signs of overall market recovery.” We don’t see anything in sight, so we continue to be cautious about our plans.”
And entering 2024, Burns said, “distributor inventories are in line with current demand,” suggesting that customers no longer have excess absorption capacity.
The company’s stock soared 11.5% in intraday trading, matching the S&P 500’s SPX gain and enough to put it on track for its highest close since July 31, 2023. It was also heading for its biggest one-day gain since the rally. As of March 13, 2020, it is 13.9%.
The company has increased its expected cost savings from $100 million to $120 million in 2022 through productivity improvements and voluntary retirement plans, with most efforts already completed. The company also increased the total amount of fees it expects to accrue from the plan from $105 million to $130 million.
Meanwhile, the company reported fourth-quarter net income of $17 million, or 31 cents per share, down from $186 million, or $3.57 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding non-recurring items, earnings per share were $1.71, beating the FactSet consensus of $1.65.
Sales decreased 32.9% to $1.01 billion, with tangible product sales down 39.3% to $780 million, while services and software sales increased 5% to $229 million. USD, beating the FactSet consensus of $999 million.
“As expected, our fourth quarter results continued to be impacted by broad-based weakness across end markets and distributor inventory reductions,” Burns said. “We achieved continued improvement in sales, profitability and free cash flow through improved demand, restructuring activities and inventory management initiatives.”
The stock has increased 30% in the past three months, but is still down 13.8% in the past 12 months. In comparison, the S&P 500 index rose 20.9% over the past year.