Zebra Technologies
ZBRA on Nasdaq. Zebra Technologies sells barcode scanners, printers, and tracking software to retailers, warehouses, and hospitals. Market value $17.8bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Good business, but not cheap right now
Why it could be worth it
See cheaper Technology stocks on the list
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $5.09 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 23.8 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 9 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 81 of 100. Price score: 56 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$375.66 a share, 89% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $199.05 to $386.23.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Monday’s close (5 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $5.6bn | $5.8bn | $4.6bn | $5.0bn | $5.4bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 17.4% | 9.2% | 10.5% | 14.9% | 13.0% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 0.33 | 0.74 | 0.73 | 0.61 | 0.70 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.05bn | 0.05bn | 0.05bn | 0.05bn | 0.05bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive4 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
- Financial strength (Piotroski)5 of 8 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt0.70× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 3.9% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 8% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $1.6 billion last quarter, up 20% on a year ago.
- Profit: $233 million, up 108% on a year ago.
- It keeps 15 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, about the same as a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $904 million, up from $853 million.
- 6% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- Debt is $2.6 billion more than cash, up from $1.3 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $1.3bn |
| December 2024 | $1.3bn |
| March 2025 | $1.3bn |
| June 2025 | $1.3bn |
| September 2025 | $1.3bn |
| December 2025 | $1.5bn |
| March 2026 | $1.5bn |
| June 2026 | $1.6bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $137m |
| December 2024 | $163m |
| March 2025 | $136m |
| June 2025 | $112m |
| September 2025 | $101m |
| December 2025 | $70m |
| March 2026 | $135m |
| June 2026 | $233m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- 3 November 2026
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 12 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 3 November 2026
Who owns it
7 long-term investors we follow own it, up from 5 last quarter. 644 funds in all.
- Fenimore Asset Management (FAM Funds)John Fox
- Value
- $95m
- Share of fund
- 2.0%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston PartnersBoston Partners team | $689m | 0.6% | Added |
| Ariel InvestmentsJohn Rogers Jr. | $243m | 2.4% | Added |
| Fenimore Asset Management (FAM Funds)John Fox | $95m | 2.0% | |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $11m | <0.1% | Added |
| Brandes Investment PartnersCharles Brandes | $3m | <0.1% | New |
| GMOJeremy Grantham | $519,149 | <0.1% | Cut |
| Pzena Investment ManagementRichard Pzena | $357,770 | <0.1% | New |
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$872mCut
- Vanguard Capital Management$820mCut
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$702mCut
- Boston Partners$689mAdded
- State Street$496mCut
- Invesco$465mAdded
- Geode Capital Management$355m
- Alyeska Investment Group, L.P.$329mCut
- Fuller & Thaler Asset Management$318mAdded
- Arrowstreet Capital, Limited Partnership$281mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
4 investors own more than 5%.
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor7.4%Since 31 March 2026
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor7.1%Since 31 March 2025
- Vanguard Portfolio ManagementPassive investor5.7%Since 31 March 2026
- Boston PartnersPassive investor5.5%Since 30 June 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 7.4% | 31 March 2026 | |
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 7.1% | 31 March 2025 | |
Vanguard Portfolio Management Passive investor | 5.7% | 31 March 2026 | |
Boston Partners Passive investor | 5.5% | 30 June 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $386,823 of shares on the open market. 6 sold $2m.
- Connly LindaDirectorSold
- Date
- 10 August 2026
- Shares
- 500
- Price
- $377.68
- Value
- $188,840
- Cho MichaelChief Strategy OfficerSold
- Date
- 7 August 2026
- Shares
- 3,500
- Price
- $375.20
- Value
- $1m
- Luff Loizides MelissaChief People OfficerSold
- Date
- 26 May 2026
- Shares
- 500
- Price
- $253.95
- Value
- $126,975
- ROBERTS JANICE MDirectorSold
- Date
- 14 May 2026
- Shares
- 3,000
- Price
- $249.54
- Value
- $748,620
- Dhanasekaran SatishDirectorBought
- Date
- 12 March 2026
- Shares
- 200
- Price
- $205.40
- Value
- $41,080
- Kogl Cristen LChief Legal OfficerSold
- Date
- 5 March 2026
- Shares
- 145
- Price
- $235.71
- Value
- $34,178
- Armstrong Robert John JrChief Marketing OfficerSold
- Date
- 5 March 2026
- Shares
- 9
- Price
- $229.73
- Value
- $2,068
- Dhanasekaran SatishDirectorBought
- Date
- 27 February 2026
- Shares
- 500
- Price
- $225.25
- Value
- $112,625
- Dhanasekaran SatishDirectorBought
- Date
- 18 November 2025
- Shares
- 1,000
- Price
- $233.12
- Value
- $233,118
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 August 2026 | Connly Linda Director | Sold | 500 | $377.68 | $188,840 |
| 7 August 2026 | Cho Michael Chief Strategy Officer | Sold | 3,500 | $375.20 | $1m |
| 26 May 2026 | Luff Loizides Melissa Chief People Officer | Sold | 500 | $253.95 | $126,975 |
| 14 May 2026 | ROBERTS JANICE M Director | Sold | 3,000 | $249.54 | $748,620 |
| 12 March 2026 | Dhanasekaran Satish Director | Bought | 200 | $205.40 | $41,080 |
| 5 March 2026 | Kogl Cristen L Chief Legal Officer | Sold | 145 | $235.71 | $34,178 |
| 5 March 2026 | Armstrong Robert John Jr Chief Marketing Officer | Sold | 9 | $229.73 | $2,068 |
| 27 February 2026 | Dhanasekaran Satish Director | Bought | 500 | $225.25 | $112,625 |
| 18 November 2025 | Dhanasekaran Satish Director | Bought | 1,000 | $233.12 | $233,118 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
What could go wrong
Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.