Is Zebra Technologies Now a Value Opportunity After Its Recent Price Rebound?

• Wondering if Zebra Technologies is quietly turning into a value opportunity after a rough patch in the tech space? This article will walk through whether the current price really makes sense.
• The stock has bounced about 4% over the last week and 7.2% in the past month, even though it is still down roughly 29% year to date and about 33% over the last year, a pattern that often signals shifting sentiment rather than a simple trend.
• Investors have been reacting to ongoing developments around enterprise automation and demand for barcode, scanning, and workflow solutions, where Zebra is a key player. In addition, commentary around supply chain normalization and long term digital transformation spending has added nuance to how the market is pricing Zebra's future growth and risk.
• Right now, Zebra scores a solid 5/6 on our valuation checks, suggesting the market may be undervaluing its cash flows and assets on several fronts. Next, we will unpack those methods one by one while also hinting at a more powerful way to think about valuation that we will come back to at the end.

Find out why Zebra Technologies's -32.9% return over the last year is lagging behind its peers.

Approach 1: Zebra Technologies Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Analysis

A Discounted Cash Flow model estimates what a business is worth by projecting its future cash flows and discounting them back to today in $ terms. For Zebra Technologies, the model starts with last twelve months Free Cash Flow of about $787 million and uses analyst forecasts for the next few years, then extends those trends further out using Simply Wall St extrapolations.

On this basis, Zebra’s Free Cash Flow is projected to rise to roughly $1.06 billion by 2029, with further steady growth implied through 2035. All of these future cash flows are brought back to their present value using a required rate of return, and summed to arrive at an estimated intrinsic value per share of about $345.

Compared with the current share price, this implies the stock is trading at roughly a 20.6% discount to its DCF based fair value. This suggests investors are being cautious about the durability of cash flow growth.

Result: UNDERVALUED

Our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis suggests Zebra Technologies is undervalued by 20.6%. Track this in your watchlist or portfolio, or discover 904 more undervalued stocks based on cash flows.

Head to the Valuation section of our Company Report for more details on how we arrive at this Fair Value for Zebra Technologies.

Approach 2: Zebra Technologies Price vs Earnings

For a consistently profitable business like Zebra, the price to earnings (PE) ratio is a useful way to judge value because it links what investors pay directly to the company’s current earnings power. Higher growth expectations and lower perceived risk usually justify a higher normal PE, while slower growth or greater uncertainty tend to pull a fair multiple down.

Zebra currently trades at about 27.1x earnings, which is slightly above the broader Electronic industry average of roughly 25.8x, but well below the peer group average near 49.9x. To go a step further, Simply Wall St calculates a proprietary Fair Ratio of around 29.0x for Zebra, based on its earnings growth outlook, profitability, industry, market cap and risk profile.

This Fair Ratio is more informative than a simple comparison with peers or the industry because it is tailored to Zebra’s specific fundamentals rather than broad group averages that may be skewed by outliers. With the stock on 27.1x compared with a Fair Ratio of 29.0x, the PE-based view suggests the shares are trading at a modest discount to what would be considered reasonable.

Result: UNDERVALUED

PE ratios tell one story, but what if the real opportunity lies elsewhere? Discover 1447 companies where insiders are betting big on explosive growth.

Upgrade Your Decision Making: Choose your Zebra Technologies Narrative

Earlier we mentioned that there is an even better way to understand valuation, so let us introduce you to Narratives, a simple framework on Simply Wall St’s Community page that lets you turn your view of Zebra Technologies into a story backed by numbers by connecting your assumptions about future revenue, earnings and margins to a financial forecast, a fair value, and ultimately an investment decision based on how that Fair Value compares with the current price. It dynamically updates as new news or earnings arrive. One investor might build a bullish Zebra Narrative around automation demand, easing tariff pressure and margin expansion that supports a fair value near the upper analyst target of about $421 per share. Another more cautious investor could focus on hardware reliance, integration risk and slower organic growth to arrive at a more conservative fair value closer to $300, with both perspectives clearly quantified and continuously refreshed as the facts change.

Do you think there's more to the story for Zebra Technologies? Head over to our Community to see what others are saying!

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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