Zebra Technologies Reports 3Q 2021 Results

Zebra Technologies announced results for the third quarter ended Oct. 2, 2021.

Net sales were $1,436 million in the third quarter of 2021 compared to $1,132 million in the third quarter of 2020. Net sales in the Enterprise Visibility & Mobility (EVM) segment were $1,050 million in the third quarter of 2021 compared with $795 million in the third quarter of 2020.

Asset Intelligence & Tracking (AIT) segment net sales were $386 million in the third quarter of 2021 compared to $339 million in the prior year period. Consolidated organic net sales for the third quarter increased 23.2%. Third-quarter year-over-year organic net sales increased by 27.9% in the EVM segment and increased by 12.1% in the AIT segment.

Third quarter 2021 gross profit was $646 million compared to $493 million in the prior year period. Gross margin increased to 45.0% for the third quarter of 2021 compared to 43.6% in the prior year period.

“Our team delivered exceptional third-quarter results that exceeded our outlook, supported by broad-based demand for our solutions and tireless actions taken to mitigate the impact of industry-wide supply chain disruption,” said Anders Gustafsson, CEO of Zebra Technologies.

“We entered the fourth quarter with a strong order backlog and robust pipeline of business which supports our strong sales outlook despite extended lead times for certain products,” Gustafsson added. “Additionally, we are focused on investing in adjacent expansion markets that advance our Enterprise Asset Intelligence vision, including our recent acquisition of antuit.ai which provides AI-powered demand sensing for retailers and consumer packaged goods companies.”

Net income for the third quarter of 2021 was $199 million, or $3.69 per diluted share, compared to net income of $116 million, or $2.16 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2020. Non-GAAP net income for the third quarter of 2021 increased to $245 million, or $4.55 per diluted share, compared to $175 million, or $3.27 per diluted share, for the prior year period.

Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2021 increased to $312 million, or 21.7% of adjusted net sales, compared to $230 million, or 20.3% of adjusted net sales, for the third quarter of 2020 due to higher gross profits and lower operating expenses as a percentage of sales.

As of Oct. 2, 2021, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $307 million and total debt of $996 million. For the first nine months of 2021, the company generated $836 million of operating cash flow and made capital expenditures of $38 million, resulting in free cash flow of $798 million. The company made $307 million of business acquisitions and $24 million in venture investments.