Zebra CEO Credits NFL, Hospitals, China for Nice Beat
Zebra Technologies (ZBRA) - Get Report beat Wall Street's consensus earnings estimate in its third quarter. The company's CEO Anders Gustafsson said the company is getting a huge tailwind from last year's Motorola Solutions acquisition.
"We've had 8% growth for the combined business year-to-date on a constant currency basis, so we are very pleased with that," said Gustafsson. "We've won some nice, new large deals and our Android business is up 170% year to date. Finally, China, which was challenging last year, has been growing 60% this year."
On Tuesday, Zebra reported third-quarter Non-GAAP sales excluding the impact of purchase accounting of $919 million. Net sales were $916 million on a GAAP basis, compared to Wall Street's estimate of $918 million. Non-GAAP net income was $72.4 million, or $1.39 per diluted share, compared with $41.6 million, or 81 cents per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2014. Wall Street's consensus earnings estimate for Zebra's third quarter was $1.23.
Zebra expects adjusted net sales in the fourth quarter of 2015 to be within a range of $945 million and $975 million. This forecast reflects an expectation of year-over-year growth of 3.6% to 6.9% in constant currency. Non-GAAP earnings are expected in the range of $1.38 to $1.63 per share. Adjusted EBITDA are forecasted within a range of $155 million to $170 million. Wall Street's analysts are forecasting the company to earn $1.42 per share on $968 million in revenue.
Gustafsson said the company has benefited greatly from its deal to supply the National Football League, or NFL, with its solutions. The NFL uses the company's solutions in all its games and its equipment was installed at Wembley Stadium in London and in Aloha Stadium in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl.
"Analytics in sports is something that every league is looking at," said Gustafsson. "We are looking to make sure we position ourselves well for all those other leagues and teams."
Gustafsson said being able to track the players in real time has enabled them to leverage the technology for use in its other customers, even industrial companies.
"It illuminates very well what the technology can do and makes it very easy for other customers to say, "I have an application. I have a use for this," he said.