Zebra Technologies CEO Addresses Q3 Challenges as Segment Sales Dip

Zebra Technologies Corp ZBRA reported a third-quarter FY23 net sales decline of 30.6% year-on-year to $956 million, beating the consensus of $926.34 million. 

The Cisco Systems, Inc CSCO rival's adjusted EPS of $0.87 beat the consensus of $0.81.

Consolidated organic net sales for the quarter decreased by 29.6%. 

Net sales in the Enterprise Visibility & Mobility (EVM) segment fell 31.4% Y/Y to $632 million. The net sales of the asset Intelligence and tracking (AIT) segment decreased by 25.8% Y/Y to $324 million.

The adjusted gross margin declined by 100 bps to 44.8%, primarily due to volume deleveraging. The adjusted EBITDA margin declined by 950 bps to 11.6% due to gross margin hit and higher exit and restructuring costs.

Zebra held $61 million in cash and equivalents.

The 2022 Productivity Plan and Voluntary Retirement Plan will likely entail charges of $105 million with net annualized expense savings of $100 million, an increase from $85 million.

"As expected, our third quarter results were impacted by broad-based end market softness and elongated sales cycles across our product categories, as well as distributor destocking," CEO Bill Burns said.

Outlook: Zebra expects Q4 net sales to decrease between 32% - 36% Y/Y compared to the consensus of $1.02 billion. It sees the adjusted EPS of $1.40 - $1.80 versus the street consensus of $1.69.

During Q2 results in August, Zebra expected FY23 net sales to decline by 20% - 23% Y/Y compared to the consensus of $4.56 billion. 

Price Action: ZBRA shares traded higher by 0.53% at $210.89 on the last check Tuesday.