Tomahawk, WI 04/16/2014 (Basicsmedia) – Traders did not take too kindly to the announcement that Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:ZBRA) was going to acquire Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI)’s enterprise business for $3.45 billion.
Biggest Deal
This is going to be the biggest deal ever for Zebra Technologies. But Zebra Technologies’ stock fell by more than 11% during the day after the announcement was out on concerns that the company would need to go for huge borrowings to fund the deal.
Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:ZBRA) has a market capitalization of about $3.0 billion. Zebra Technologies has announced that it is going to finance the deal with $200 million of cash in hand and $3.25 billion in debt.
Zebra Technologies’ clients include Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) which uses Zebra products to track inventory and supply chains. Motorola Solutions has clients such as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and TNT Express.
While Zebra Technologies had annual sales of $1.0 billion in 2013, the enterprise business of Motorola Solutions had sales of $2.5 billion.
About 4,500 employees of Motorola Solutions will become Zebra Technologies employees and join Zebra’s existing workforce of about 2,600.
The Business Environment
Zebra Technologies is in the business of making barcode printers while Motorola Solutions’ enterprise business makes mobile computers and barcode scanners apart from tablet.
Zebra Technologies has strong competitors in the printing business including Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), Epson, and Lexmark International Inc (NYSE:LXK). Zebra Technologies’ competitors in the location tracking products business include Ubisense and AeroScout.
After the Motorola Solutions’ acquisition, Zebra Technologies’ position will be further strengthened in the mobile computing sector and advanced data capture and communications technologies. The combined entity will be strong in such key industries as Retail, Transportation & Logistics, and Manufacturing and will be serving about 95% of the Fortune 500 companies.
Zebra’s Other Deals
Zebra Technologies acquired Hart Systems — a maker of Web-based inventory management software for the retail industry — in December. Zebra also launched Zatar, a Web-based software for devices and sensors connected to the Internet, also known as the “Internet of Things.”
Financial Profile
Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:ZBRA) estimates an adjusted profit amount of $0.88 to $0.91 per share on sales of $287 million to $289 million in 1Q2014. This is above analyst expectations of $0.83 per share and sales of $281.6 million.