Zebra Technologies Corporation (ZBRA)
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Every beep at a checkout counter and in every parcel hub may come from Zebra. After the 2023 collapse the business is growing again: $5,396 million of revenue in fiscal 2025, up 14.3 percent in the first quarter of 2026. Profit is not keeping up — $419 million after $528 million the year before. We read the annual report and the quarterly report filed on May 12, 2026, and find three distributors delivering 59 percent of revenue, goodwill larger than equity, and $2,004 million of debt maturing in 2027. A beep means captured — it does not mean paid.
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Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
Sells AIZebra baut künstliche Intelligenz in die eigenen Software- und Geräteangebote ein und nennt im Geschäftsbericht 2025 ausdrücklich ein „AI product portfolio“, in das reinvestiert wird — KI ist damit Bestandteil der Umsatzquelle, nicht nur internes Werkzeug.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„We are leveraging artificial intelligence to automate the detailed generation of tasks within complex workflows, bring knowledge and product companions to workers and deliver conversational interfaces that power our overall frontline experience."
Wir setzen künstliche Intelligenz ein, um die detaillierte Erzeugung von Aufgaben innerhalb komplexer Arbeitsabläufe zu automatisieren, den Beschäftigten Wissens- und Produktbegleiter an die Hand zu geben und dialogfähige Oberflächen bereitzustellen, die unser gesamtes Frontline-Erlebnis antreiben.
„We expect annualized pre-tax operating costs savings of at least $20 million from these actions, net of re-investment into advancing the Company’s AI product portfolio, reorganizing our sales force, and absorbing increased employee-related costs."
Wir erwarten aus diesen Maßnahmen jährliche Einsparungen bei den Betriebskosten vor Steuern von mindestens 20 Millionen US-Dollar, nach Abzug der Reinvestition in den Ausbau des KI-Produktportfolios des Unternehmens, den Umbau unseres Vertriebs und die Aufnahme gestiegener Personalkosten.
„These offerings are typically delivered through cloud-based software subscriptions and leverage big data, artificial intelligence, and mobile and web applications to provide customers with real-time visibility and actionable insights about their business."
Diese Angebote werden in der Regel über cloudbasierte Software-Abonnements bereitgestellt und nutzen große Datenbestände, künstliche Intelligenz sowie mobile und Web-Anwendungen, um Kunden Echtzeit-Transparenz und umsetzbare Erkenntnisse über ihr Geschäft zu liefern.
Filings Reviewed: 10-K 2026-02-12 · 10-Q 2026-05-12 · 10-Q 2025-10-28 · 10-Q 2025-08-05 · 10-Q 2025-04-29 · 10-K 2025-02-13
Rated on July 26, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 3.14 | 854.60 | 1,334 | 32.20 | 12.20 | 306 | 288 |
| 2025: Q1 | 2.63 | 18.20 | 1,308 | 11.30 | 10.40 | 178 | 158 |
| 2025: Q2 | 2.16 | -0.80 | 1,293 | 6.20 | 8.70 | 147 | 130 |
| 2025: Q3 | 1.95 | -26.10 | 1,320 | 5.20 | 7.70 | 235 | 216 |
| 2025: Q4 | 1.38 | -56.00 | 1,475 | 10.60 | 4.70 | 357 | 327 |
| 2026: Q1 | 2.67 | 1.50 | 1,495 | 14.30 | 9.00 | 176 | 163 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Zebra is one of the two pacesetters in automatic data capture worldwide, and the business carries real switching resistance: more than 10,000 channel partners in 179 countries, an installed base that pulls services, supplies and software behind it, and $264 million of services and software revenue in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Gross margin ran at 48.1 percent in fiscal 2025.
After the 2023 collapse (revenue $4,584 million, down 20.7 percent, with $4 million of operating cash outflow) the business is running again: $4,981 million in 2024, $5,396 million in 2025, up 14.3 percent to $1,495 million in the first quarter of 2026. All four regions grew double digits, Asia-Pacific fastest at 21.9 percent. The $917 million of operating cash flow in 2025 is real money.
More revenue, less profit: revenue grew 8.3 percent in 2025, but operating income fell from $742 million to $700 million and net income from $528 million to $419 million. Operating expenses climbed from 33.5 percent to 35.1 percent of revenue. In the first quarter of 2026 net income of $135 million still trailed the $136 million of the prior-year quarter — on $187 million more revenue.
Three distributors accounted for 29, 15 and 15 percent of fiscal 2025 revenue — 59 percent combined, or roughly $3.18 billion. The largest was still at 18 percent in 2023. Resellers order in waves: in 2023 that cost a fifth of revenue without end demand moving anywhere near as far.
As of April 4, 2026 the balance sheet carries $4,709 million of goodwill and $765 million of other intangibles against $3,470 million of equity — on a tangible basis equity is negative. Cash fell from $1,053 million (September 27, 2025) to $114 million. This is not a solvency risk: Altman Z 6.69, equity ratio 41.6 percent, all debt covenants met. But the cushion for a second 2023 is thinner.
Of $2,660 million in debt, $2,004 million matures in 2027, with the term loan due May 25, 2027 at a floating 5.02 percent. At the same time $500 million went into buybacks, funded per the quarterly report by increased borrowings under the credit facilities. No refinancing has been announced as of July 26, 2026.
Zebra Technologies has put the 2023 collapse behind it: $5,396 million of revenue in fiscal 2025, up 14.3 percent in the first quarter of 2026, $917 million of operating cash flow, a 48.1 percent gross margin. The turnaround in the numbers is real. It was paid for with $1,365 million of acquisitions, a cash pile shrunk from $1,053 million to $114 million and buybacks funded on the credit line — while $2,004 million of $2,660 million in debt matures in 2027 and three distributors deliver 59 percent of revenue. Profit is not keeping pace with revenue: $419 million after $528 million. Buying here means buying a strong market position and an open bill for 2027. Not investment advice.
- Hook: our in-house stock scanner “Turnaround Candidates”, rank 29 of 60 U.S. hits, turnaround check 6 of 8, measured live on July 26, 2026. These lists are recomputed daily; rank and score are a dated snapshot, not a permanent state.
- Cross-check on the mandatory pillar “at least 50 percent below the all-time high”: the price history confirms it. Highest closing price $614.55 on December 10, 2021 against $259.92 on July 24, 2026 — minus 57.7 percent. Above roughly $307.28 (up 18.2 percent) Zebra drops out of this list.
- Data basis: annual report 10-K for 2025 filed February 12, 2026; annual report 10-K for 2024 filed February 13, 2025 (supplies 2022); quarterly report 10-Q as of April 4, 2026 filed May 12, 2026; quarterly reports as of September 27, 2025, June 28, 2025 and March 29, 2025; current reports 8-K of May 12 and May 19, 2026; metrics and price history July 24 to 26, 2026.
- Mind the segment change: Zebra recut its reporting segments in 2025 — “Connected Frontline” and “Asset Visibility and Automation” instead of the former AIT and EVM segments. Segment time series before 2025 are therefore not comparable.
- The traffic light in this analysis judges the company, not the entry point. A scanner rank is an invitation to research, not a buy signal.
About the Company
Zebra Technologies Corporation ist mit ihren Tochtergesellschaften weltweit in der Branche für automatische Identifikations- und Datenerfassungslösungen tätig. Sie ist in zwei Segmenten tätig: Connected Frontline sowie Asset Visibility and Automation.
| Employees | 10,700 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Lincolnshire, IL |
| Website | zebra.com |
| IPO Date | 15. Aug 1991 |
| Next Earnings | 4. Aug 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| William J. Burns | CEO & Director | 1967 |
| Nathan Andrew Winters | Chief Financial Officer | 1980 |
| Cristen L. Kogl J.D. | Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | 1966 |
| Jeffrey F. Schmitz | Senior Vice President | 1964 |
| Richard Edward Hudson | Chief Revenue Officer | 1968 |
| Colleen M. O'Sullivan | Senior VP & Chief Accounting Officer | 1967 |
| Tom Bianculli | Chief Technology Officer | – |
| Matt Ausman | Chief Information Officer | – |
| Michael A. Steele C.F.A., IRC | Vice President of Investor Relations | 1973 |
| Therese Van Ryne | Senior Director of External Communications | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 24, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.