New York, February 13, 2026, 09:36 EST — Regular session
- Zebra Technologies shares were down about 2.6% in early trading, a day after a sharp post-earnings rally
- The company forecast 2026 sales growth of 9% to 13% and lifted its buyback authorization by $1 billion
- Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $323 and kept an Equal Weight rating
Zebra Technologies shares fell 2.6% to $267.11 in early U.S. trading on Friday, trimming gains after the barcode-scanner maker’s upbeat outlook and buyback update lit up the stock a session earlier. (Investing)
The pullback followed Thursday’s surge, when Zebra jumped more than 17% after it forecast 2026 sales and profit above Wall Street estimates and announced a $1 billion stock buyback program. The company has leaned on demand for its barcode scanners and communication devices as customers modernize operations. (Reuters)
Zebra’s guidance matters right now because investors have been hunting for signs that spending on “frontline” hardware and workflow tools is holding up into 2026, after a choppy stretch for enterprise and industrial demand. Chief executive Bill Burns said the company entered 2026 with “a healthy backlog and pipeline,” and Zebra projected full-year sales growth of 9% to 13% and non-GAAP earnings per share of $17.70 to $18.30. Non-GAAP, or adjusted, results strip out certain items such as restructuring charges. (Zebra Technologies)
On the earnings call, Zebra posted fourth-quarter net sales of about $1.48 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $4.33, while reporting $76 million in restructuring charges tied in part to its planned exit from its robotics business. CFO Nathan Winters said the board’s additional $1 billion authorization left about $1.1 billion available after repurchases through early February, and flagged “industry-wide” memory component price increases starting in the second quarter — a cost headwind the company said it expects to offset with pricing, productivity and savings from the robotics exit. (Investing)
Morgan Stanley analyst Meta Marshall raised her price target on Zebra to $323 from $309 and kept an Equal Weight rating, saying the company’s outlook pointed to “a reacceleration in 2026” after concerns around organic growth. She added that the firm came away encouraged on demand and early Elo progress, but still had questions around pricing and refresh timing. (TipRanks)
Friday’s move looked like digestion, not a new narrative. After a big, fast jump, traders often take some chips off the table, and this report had plenty for investors to argue over — how much of 2026 growth comes from acquisitions and currency versus underlying demand, and whether margins can hold while the company pushes through price changes.
The risk is straightforward: higher component costs could bite harder than expected, and price increases can test demand if customers push back or delay upgrades. Commentary around memory costs has already crept into the debate over how much of the earnings pop was “real” versus timing and mix. (Nasdaq)
Investors’ next hard checkpoint is Zebra’s first-quarter 2026 report, which the company lists as an estimated May 12 earnings date. Between now and then, the stock will likely trade on evidence of organic sales momentum, margin execution, and the pace of buybacks. (Zebra)
