Jabil Breezes Past Earnings Expectations. The Stock Is Falling Anyway.

Jabil issued a better-than-expected fiscal-year outlook. (Dreamstime)

Key Points

About This Summary

• Jabil’s shares fell despite beating earnings and revenue estimates.
• The company reported adjusted earnings of $3.29 per share and revenue of $8.3 billion for the quarter.
• Jabil projects fiscal 2026 revenue to increase by 5% to $31.3 billion, with an operating margin expanding to 5.6%.

Shares of Jabil were falling sharply Thursday even after the supplier of electronic parts beat quarterly earnings estimates and issued a better-than-expected outlook for its current fiscal year.

The company posted adjusted earnings of $3.29 a share for its fiscal fourth quarter, ahead of analysts’ consensus forecasts of $2.92. Revenue totaled $8.3 billion, beating Wall Street’s call for $7.6 billion.

Jabil expects revenue to grow around 5% to $31.3 billion in fiscal 2026, an acceleration from 3.2% growth over the past year. The company also forecast its operating margin to expand to 5.6% in the next year from 5.4% in fiscal 2025.

Investors appeared to want more from Jabil, however, as shares dived 9.2% to $204.51 apiece.

It wasn’t immediately clear what triggered the drop. The stock closed Wednesday up 57% this year, while the broader S&P 500 has climbed 13%, so shareholders may have priced in even higher expectations than analysts. Jabil shares hit an all-time high of $234.45 on Tuesday, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

“Fiscal 2025 was a strong year for Jabil,” said CEO Mike Dastoor in a statement, adding that “strength in AI-driven demand across capital equipment, data centers, and networking” helped offset pressures in the company’s automotive and renewable energy end markets.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com