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Here's Why You Should Consider Investing in Zebra (ZBRA) Now

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Zebra Technologies Corporation (ZBRA - Free Report) currently boasts robust prospects on strong product portfolio, solid demand for products, acquired assets and a sound capital-deployment strategy.

Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company has a market capitalization of $28.4 billion. In the past three months, the company’s shares have gained 8.3% compared with the industry’s growth of 4.5%.

Let’s delve into the factors that make investment in the company a smart choice at the moment.

Solid Demand Environment: Zebra has been witnessing robust demand for its printing and supplies, enterprise mobile computing, intelligent automation solutions, as well as services and software across all regions. In the quarters ahead, the growing acceptance of the company’s Enterprise Asset Intelligence solutions and its product development initiatives are likely to be beneficial. For 2021 (results are awaited), it expects adjusted net sales to grow more than 25% on a year-over-year basis.

Acquisition Benefits:  The company intends to strengthen and expand its businesses through acquisitions. Its antuit.ai acquisition (October 2021) is likely to strengthen the planning and demand forecasting module for its retail software portfolio. Also, the buyout of Fetch Robotics (August 2021) has been enhancing its capability to offer a comprehensive line of advanced robotics solutions to customers. The Reflexis Systems, Inc. acquisition (September 2020) boosted its software offerings. Buyouts contributed 1.3% to its net sales in the third quarter of 2021.

Strong Cash Flows: Its ability to generate healthy cash flow allows it to effectively deploy capital to execute acquisitions and repurchase shares. In the first nine months of 2021, its free cash flow totaled $798 million, reflecting an increase of 65.6% year over year. For 2021, it expects free cash flow of a minimum of $950 million. In the first three quarters of 2021, it repurchased shares worth $25 million. Exiting the third quarter, the company had $728 million worth of shares left for repurchase under its buyback program.

Estimate Revisions: In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2021 earnings has been stable at $18.23, while the same for 2022 has increased from $18.72 to $19.27 on two upward estimate revisions versus none downward.

Other Key Picks

Some other top-ranked companies from the Zacks Industrial Products sector are discussed below.

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (CWST - Free Report) presently carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Its earnings surprise in the last four quarters was 42.11%, on average.

In the past 60 days, Casella Waste’s earnings estimates have been stable for 2021 and increased 0.9% for 2022. Its shares have gained 1.8% in the past three months.

Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (FELE - Free Report) presently carries a Zacks Rank #2. Its earnings surprise in the last four quarters was 16.27%, on average.

Franklin Electric’s earnings estimates have been stable for 2021 and increased 0.6% for 2022 in the past 60 days. Its shares have gained 12.7% in the past three months.

Zurn Water Solutions Corporation (ZWS - Free Report) presently carries a Zacks Rank #2. Its average earnings surprise in the last four quarters was 33.09%.

Zurn Water Solutions’ estimates for 2021 have been stable for 2021 and increased 2.8% for 2022 in the past 60 days. Its shares have lost 4% in the past three months.

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