Zebra Soars on Record Revenues

By Chris Lange Published May 13, 10:20AM EDT

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Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ZBRA) reported its first-quarter earnings Wednesday before the markets opened. The company had $1.39 in earnings per share (EPS) on a record $893.2 million in revenue, versus Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $1.12 in EPS on $881.81 million revenue. In the first quarter of the previous year, it posted EPS of $0.91 and revenue of $288.27 million.

In terms of guidance, the company said that it expected net sales between $865 million to $895 million and an EPS between $1.00 and $1.25 for the second quarter. The consensus estimates are $1.17 in EPS on $877.04 million in revenue.

Zebra Technologies designs and manufactures label printers, radio frequency identification (RFID) printer/encoders, dye sublimation card printers, real-time locating solutions, related accessories and support software worldwide. It products are used principally in automatic identification (auto ID), data collection and personal identification applications.

CEO Anders Gustafsson said:

We started the year with strong, positive momentum, as business activity remained high specifically in North America and Europe. Our partners and customers are responding enthusiastically to our greatly expanded portfolio of solutions and capabilities, and our enhanced focus on giving them improved visibility into their assets, transactions and people for better enterprise asset intelligence. During the quarter we also made material progress on achieving our cost-synergy targets, pursuing growth initiatives and integrating Zebra with the Enterprise business acquired from Motorola Solutions in October. The favorable business trends are continuing into the second quarter, as Zebra is well positioned to benefit over the long term from the convergence of technology trends in the Internet of Things, mobility and cloud computing.

The company has cash and cash equivalents totaling $329.5 million, compared to the $394.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Wednesday morning, shares of Zebra closed were up 9.4% at $102.50, in a 52-week trading of $58.95 to $103.42. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $102.50.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.