Does Symbotic's Strong Backlog Growth Hint at Further Upside?

Symbotic SYM is well-positioned to deliver significant revenues in the coming years, supported by its substantial backlog. As of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, with results announced last month, the company reported a backlog of $22.5 billion. Its expanding and diversified product portfolio spans multiple layers of the supply chain and is underpinned by this solid backlog.

The strength of Symbotic’s backlog contributed to a healthy year-over-year revenue growth recorded in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. Going forward, we expect revenue growth to continue to be driven by the conversion of this sizable backlog. For the first quarter of fiscal 2026, Symbotic projects revenues in the range of $610-$630 million, indicating year-over-year growth in the 25-29% band and adjusted EBITDA between $49 million and $53 million.

Beyond offering revenue visibility, SYM’s strong backlog serves as a key catalyst for long-term growth. A substantial backlog provides a consistent flow of deployment opportunities, resulting in more predictable cash generation. This backlog also enables the company to benefit from efficient project execution, ongoing innovation and a well-defined product development roadmap.

Symbotic’s sizable backlog further enhances operational efficiency. With demand largely secured, the company can better optimize manufacturing processes, supply-chain management and workforce deployment to deliver solutions more quickly. The $22.5 billion backlog, combined with improved deployment efficiency, is expected to support both revenue expansion and margin improvement.

Additionally, SYM’s large backlog strengthens its ability to form deeper partnerships and negotiate more favorable terms with suppliers. This positioning should give the company a competitive advantage in the fast-growing warehouse automation market.

Taking a Look at the Backlog Positions for Another Player

Honeywell HON exited 2024 with a record backlog of $35.3 billion, an 11% increase, driven primarily by strong demand in its core businesses. At the end of the third quarter of 2025, Honeywell’s overall backlog grew substantially. For 2025, Honeywell expects overall revenues to be in the $40.7-$40.9 billion range, with organic revenues expected to be 6% on a year-over-year basis.

Wabtec's WAB 12-month backlog at the end of the third quarter of 2025 was $643 million higher than the prior year. Wabtec’s multi-year backlog was $3.34 billion higher than the prior-year period and excluding foreign currency exchange, Wabtec’s multi-year backlog was $3.3 billion. Wabtec’s multi-year backlog continues to provide strong visibility and support growth.

SYM’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of SYM have surged in triple digits in a year, easily outperforming its industry.

1-Year Price Comparison

From a valuation perspective, Symbotic is trading at a premium compared with the industry average. In terms of price-to-sales (F12M), SYM is trading at 11.83X, much higher than the industry’s average of 2.71X.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SYM’s first-quarter and second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings has remained stable over the past 60 days. The same for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have moved upward in the same timeframe.

SYM’s Zacks Rank

SYM currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. 

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

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