On Wednesday, KeyBanc Capital Markets adjusted its rating on Symbotic Inc. (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:SYM), moving from 'Overweight' to 'Sector Weight'. This decision follows the company's announcement earlier in the day that it discovered additional accounting errors. These errors pertain to revenue recognition issues linked to non-billable cost overruns on certain deployments.
The company has revised its financial projections for the fiscal year 2024 (FY24), reducing its EBITDA expectations by $30 million to $40 million. Additionally, Symbotic has updated its first-quarter fiscal year 2025 (F1Q25) revenue guidance to $480 million to $500 million, a decrease from the previously anticipated $495 million to $515 million. The EBITDA forecast for the same period has also been adjusted to $12 million to $16 million, down from the earlier range of $27 million to $31 million.
KeyBanc's analysis indicates that the impact of these restatements on Symbotic's fourth-quarter fiscal year 2024 (F4Q24) results will not be entirely clear until the company files its 10-K report in the coming two weeks. However, the firm believes that these issues are confined to accounting practices and do not reflect any changes in customer behavior or order activity.
Looking ahead, KeyBanc maintains a positive outlook on Symbotic's long-term prospects, citing the company's position as a leading innovator in autonomous warehouse solutions and its significant technological edge. The firm expects Symbotic to continue gaining market share within an expanding global total addressable market (TAM).
Despite this optimism, KeyBanc anticipates that investor sentiment may remain wary in the near term as Symbotic works to restore trust in its internal accounting processes. This caution has led to the adjustment in the stock's rating.
In other recent news, Symbotic Inc. has been the subject of several key developments. The company reported a 55% year-over-year increase in revenue for the fourth quarter, reaching $577 million, and concluded the fiscal year with a total revenue of $1.8 billion. However, Symbotic also revealed it had identified additional errors in revenue recognition related to cost overruns on certain deployments, which are expected to negatively impact the fiscal year 2024 results by an estimated $30-$40 million.
In response to these financial errors, DA Davidson downgraded Symbotic shares from Buy to Neutral and revised the price target to $35. Meanwhile, TD Cowen, Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn), and KeyBanc all increased their price targets for Symbotic, maintaining positive ratings on the stock.
Symbotic also announced the initiation of construction on a second GreenBox facility in Georgia and a partnership with Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Mexico, expected to add approximately $400 million to the company's backlog. Additionally, the company anticipates a 40% year-over-year increase for the first quarter of 2025, supported by the acquisition of Veo Robotics.
InvestingPro Insights
Symbotic Inc.'s recent accounting challenges and revised financial projections are reflected in the latest InvestingPro data and tips. Despite the company's current profitability struggles, with a negative P/E ratio of -290.51, InvestingPro Tips suggest that analysts expect Symbotic to become profitable this year. This aligns with KeyBanc's positive long-term outlook on the company.
The company's strong revenue growth of 54.84% over the last twelve months, as reported by InvestingPro, supports KeyBanc's view of Symbotic as a leading innovator in autonomous warehouse solutions. However, the operating income margin of -6.13% underscores the profitability challenges mentioned in the article.
Investors should note that Symbotic's stock has shown significant volatility, with a 74.81% price return over the last three months, according to InvestingPro data. This volatility, combined with the recent accounting issues, may contribute to the cautious investor sentiment mentioned by KeyBanc.
For a more comprehensive analysis, InvestingPro offers 13 additional tips on Symbotic Inc., providing deeper insights into the company's financial health and market position.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.