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Here's Why Investing in Zebra (ZBRA) Stock Now Makes Sense

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Zebra Technologies Corporation (ZBRA - Free Report) presently boasts strong prospects on solid product offerings, healthy demand for products and solutions, acquisitions, and a sound capital deployment strategy.

 

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

 

The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company has a market capitalization of $22 billion. In the past month, the company’s shares have gained 13% compared with the industry’s growth of 6.5%.

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

Robust Demand Environment: Zebra has been benefiting from solid demand for its printing and supplies, enterprise mobile computing, and intelligent automation solutions across end markets.

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 2022, it expects adjusted net sales growth of 3-7% on a year-over-year basis.

Benefits From Acquisitions:  The company’s acquisition of antuit.ai (October 2021) has been strengthening the planning and demand forecasting module for its retail software portfolio.

The Fetch Robotics buyout (August 2021) has helped it offer a comprehensive line of advanced robotics solutions to customers.

The buyout of Adaptive Vision (May 2021) has boosted its fixed industrial scanning and machine vision solution offerings. Buyouts contributed 0.8% to its net sales in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Healthy Cash Flows: Zebra’s ability to generate healthy cash flow adds to its strength. In 2021, its free cash flow totaled 1,010 million, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 12.9%. For 2022, it expects a free cash flow of a minimum of $900 million.

In 2021, it repurchased shares worth $57 million. Exiting 2021, the company had $696 million worth of shares left for repurchase under its buyback program.

Estimate Revisions: In the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2022 earnings has increased from $19.54 to $19.73 on one upward estimate revision versus no downward. The consensus estimate for 2023 has gone up from $21.83 to $21.96 on one upward estimate revision against no downward.

Other Stocks to Consider

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

Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (FELE - Free Report) presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Its earnings surprise in the last four quarters was 17.44%, on average. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Franklin Electric’s earnings estimates have been unchanged for 2022 in the past 30 days. Its shares have gained 2.7% in the past month.

Standex International Corporation (SXI - Free Report) presently has a Zacks Rank #2. Its earnings surprise in the last four quarters was 5.85%, on average.

In the past 30 days, Standex’s earnings estimates have been unchanged for fiscal 2022 (ending June 2022). SXI’s shares have lost 3.1% in the past month.

Ferguson plc (FERG - Free Report) presently carries a Zacks Rank #2. Its earnings surprise in the last reported quarter was 11.56%.

In the past 30 days, Ferguson’s earnings estimates have increased 6.5% for fiscal 2022 (ending July 2022). FERG’s shares have lost 2.2% in the past month.

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