Earnings Preview: Jabil Circuit

Jabil Circuit Inc. ( JBL - Analyst Report ) is set to announce its fiscal third quarter 2012 results after the closing bell on June 19, 2012. In the run up to the earnings results, we did not notice any substantial movement in analysts’ estimates for the quarter.

Prior Quarter Highlights

The company reported second quarter 2012 earnings of 48 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. However, earnings increased 8.1% year over year from 45 cents per share (including stock-based compensation but excluding amortization), primarily driven by solid top-line growth.

Revenues increased 7.8% year over year to $4.24 billion and edged past the high end of management’s guided range of $4.0 billion to $4.2 billion. Quarterly revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.10 billion. Higher quarterly revenues were attributable to market share gains, new customer wins and strong growth from the emerging markets.

Jabil expects net revenue in the range of $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion for the third quarter of 2012 (up approximately 2.0% on a year-over-year basis). Revenue estimate as per Zacks Consensus is pegged at $4.29 billion. Jabil expects non-GAAP earnings per share to be between 60 cents and 70 cents for the third quarter.

For further details please see: Jabil Reports Mixed 2Q

Estimation Revisions Trend

Over the past 30 days, none of the five analysts covering the stock revised their estimates. Thus, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the third quarter stayed at 56 cents per share. Analysts’ estimates range from 55 cents to 58 cents.

Though Jabil has a positive average earnings surprise of 0.68%, the company has failed to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three out of the four preceding quarters. For the current quarter, analysts covering the stock expect Jabil to be negatively affected by the weaker-than-expected results of its customers, such as Cisco Systems Inc. ( CSCO - Analyst Report ) , NetApp Inc. ( NTAP - Snapshot Report ) , Research In Motion Ltd. ( ) and Hewlett-Packard Co. ( HPQ - Analyst Report ) .

However, Jabil’s Diversified Manufacturing Segment (”DMS”) is expected to witness top-line expansion on the back of Apple Inc.’s ( AAPL - Analyst Report ) new iPhone in the forthcoming quarter. Moreover, the shift towards higher margin DMS segment is expected to drive margins in the long run.

Our Take

Jabil is expected to benefit from strong growth in the Mobility, Aerospace and Defense, Healthcare, Instrumentation and Industrial, Clean Tech, Networking and Storage segments over the long term. Moreover, expansion of global business and strategic acquisitions are positives for the stock.

However, the company faces strong competition from Flextronics Inc. ( FLEX - Snapshot Report ) and Sanmina-SCI Corp. ( SANM - Snapshot Report ) , which along with the high debt level and sluggish economic conditions in Europe and the U.S. are the near term headwinds going forward.

Currently, Jabil has a Zacks #4 Rank, which implies a ‘Sell’ rating on a short-term basis.