Symbotic Set to Report Q4 Earnings: Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?

Symbotic Inc. SYM will report fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 (ended Sept. 30, 2025) results on Nov. 24, after market close.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues in the to-be-reported quarter is pegged at $600.2 million, indicating 4.1% year-over-year growth. The consensus estimate for earnings is pinned at 7 cents per share, remaining stable over the past 60 days and indicating a 40% increase from the year-ago quarter’s actual.

SYM’s earnings surprise history is not impressive. In the four trailing quarters, its earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate twice and missed in the other two. The average miss is 78.3%.

Symbotic Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Symbotic Inc. price-eps-surprise | Symbotic Inc. Quote

Q4 Earnings Whispers for SYM Stock

Our proven model does not predict an earnings beat for SYM this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. This is not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

SYM has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Growing Backlog Likely to Drive SYM’s Q4 Results

In the third quarter of fiscal 2025, Symbotic reported a backlog of $22.4 billion. Management noted that it expects to recognize approximately 11% of its remaining performance obligations as revenues over the next 12 months, 56% over the subsequent 13-60 months, with the remainder recognized thereafter.

We anticipate SYM’s top-line performance in the fiscal fourth quarter to have been driven by the conversion of this significant backlog. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, Symbotic projects revenues in the range of $590-$610 million and adjusted EBITDA between $45 million and $49 million.

Symbotic Stock Soars

SYM’s shares have skyrocketed more than 80% over the past six months, handily outperforming its industry. The company has also performed better than fellow industry participants, Coherent Corp. COHR and MediaAlpha MAX.

6-Month Price Performance

Symbotic is currently considered relatively overvalued, trading at a very high forward 12-month price-to-sales ratio. The figure is much higher than the industry average. It is also higher than Coherent and MediaAlpha. Symbotic has a Value Score of F, while Coherent and MediaAlpha have a Value Score of C and A, respectively.

SYM’s P/S F12M vs. Industry, COHR & MAX

How to Play Symbotic Pre-Q4 Earnings?

Agreed that Symbotic’s valuation is anything but tempting. The company’s unimpressive earnings history represents another headwind. However, not all is gloom and doom for this dominant technology services company.

SYM’s high backlog positions it to generate substantial revenues in the foreseeable future. We are optimistic about its margin expansion, driven by increased system deployment. Furthermore, a high free cash flow and a favorable current ratio hint at high liquidity, attracting investor attention.

Moreover, Symbotic’s deal with Nyobolt inked in September concerning its SymBot autonomous mobile robots, bodes well. The UK-based Nyobolt is known for its high-power and ultra-fast charging solutions. Naturally, the association with Nyobolt will enable Symbotic to enhance both performance and durability across its warehouse automation systems.

So, all in all, it is worth holding on to SYM stock for now. However, betting on the stock ahead of its upcoming results does not seem like a good idea. It is better to wait for management’s commentary on backlog and first-quarter fiscal 2026 guidance to get more clarity on near-term prospects.  

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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