(Reuters) – Zebra Technologies, a manufacturer of barcode scanners, projected fourth-quarter profits that exceed Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, citing improved demand and enhanced cost management resulting from its restructuring efforts. Following a difficult 2023, the demand for Zebra’s products has been rebounding, particularly for portable mobile-computing devices utilized by workers in retail, healthcare, and various other sectors. All of the company’s product divisions—mobile computing, printing, and scanning—experienced double-digit growth in the third quarter. “Mobile computing is at the forefront, but we are also witnessing growth in printing and DCS scanners,” said the company. CEO Bill Burns informed Reuters that growth is also occurring in the RFID sector. DCS scanners are portable devices for scanning barcodes, whereas RFID is a type of electromagnetic scanning technology. In the first half of the year, Zebra’s customers favored smaller deals over larger ones, but there has been a rebound in large deals in the third quarter, according to Burns. “The large deals were driven by sectors like retail, e-commerce, and logistics.” This year, we’re actually experiencing the usual seasonal trend in our business, with an increase in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter. Burns states that major transactions have not yet returned to historical levels. Not everything has fully recovered yet. Some of our clients are making significant orders, while others are continuing to utilize the capacity they established during the pandemic. Zebra anticipates a fourth-quarter profit of $3.80 to $4.00 per share on an adjusted basis, surpassing analysts’ average estimate of $3.54, based on data from LSEG. The third-quarter results were also positively impacted by a cost-saving initiative, which included a voluntary retirement plan aimed at lowering labor expenses. (Reported by Rishi Kant in Bengaluru; Edited by Tasim Zahid and Devika Syamnath)
