Zebra Technologies Boosts Portfolio With Cortexica Buyout

Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:ZBRA) yesterday announced that it acquired London-based Cortexica Vision Systems Ltd. The company did not disclose the financial terms of the transaction.

Cortexica, founded in 2008, leads in developing artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics solutions (vision-based), enhancing operational efficiencies and user experience.

Notably, Zebra Technologies will gain from Cortexica’s talented team and technical expertise. Also, Cortexica’s computer vision-based sensing will enable Zebra Technologies to boost its Enterprise Asset Intelligence vision.

It is worth mentioning here that the recent buyout was Zebra Technologies’s third acquisition so far in 2019. In February, the company acquired Temptime Corporation and bought Profitect Inc in June. In August 2018, Zebra Technologies acquired Xplore Technologies Corporation. While the Temptime buyout has been strengthening Zebra Technologies’ Asset Intelligence & Tracking segment, Profitect and Xplore Technologies have been adding values to the Enterprise Visibility & Mobility segment.

In the first three quarters of 2019, Zebra Technologies spent approximately $255 million on acquisition (net of cash acquired), up from the year-ago figure of $72 million. Notably, buyouts boosted the company’s sales by 2.1% in the first three quarters of 2019 and by approximately 1.7% in the third quarter of 2019.

Zebra Technologies anticipates acquired assets to boost sales by 1% in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

With a market capitalization of nearly $13.4 billion, Zebra Technologies currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We believe that the company’s inorganic initiatives will strengthen its product offerings and help in keeping market sentiments positive for the stock.

In the past three months, the company’s shares have rallied roughly 18.3% compared with the industry’s growth of 17.9%.

Zebra Technologies’ earnings estimates have been revised upward in the past 60 days. Currently, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $13.02 for 2019 and $14.10 for 2020 reflects growth of 1.4% and 1.7% from the respective 60-day-ago figures.

Zebra Technologies Corporation Price and Consensus