Zebra Tech 2Q profit dips, misses analyst views

Zebra Technologies Corp. on Thursday reported its second-quarter earnings dipped on increased operating costs, missing analyst estimates.

The bar code and plastic card printer maker also offered third-quarter guidance below analyst views. Its shares fell $2.73, or 8.3 percent, to $30.10 in morning trading.

For the quarter that ended June 28, Zebra earned $25.5 million, or 39 cents per share, compared with a profit of $25.6 million, or 37 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Zebra used a smaller number of shares to calculate its per-share earnings in the most recent quarter.

The company's revenue rose 21.5 percent to $253.8 million from $208.9 million, with increased hardware sales accounting for most of the gain. Zebra's service and software sales also climbed during the quarter, and supplies sales increased as well.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 45 cents per share on $253.9 million in revenue.

Zebra's operating expenses grew to $90.7 million from $65.4 million, with increased research and development costs and $4.7 million in exit costs. Zebra said the exit costs, which were related to its plan to transfer final assembly of thermal printers to another company, lowered its earnings by 5 cents per share.

For the third quarter, Zebra expects earnings of 35 cents to 41 cents per share on sales of $242 million to $253 million.

Analysts forecast a profit of 47 cents per share on $255.8 million in revenue.