Shares of U.S. manufacturing company Jabil (NYSE:JBL) soared 19% by Thursday afternoon, following the announcement of better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and a positive forward-earnings guidance. The surge added nearly $2 billion to the company's market value, which stood at $13.77 billion at last close.
For the fiscal fourth quarter ending August 31, 2023, Jabil reported revenue of $8.458 billion, a decrease of 6.3% year over year. However, the company posted adjusted Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $2.45, surpassing analysts' expectation by $0.13. Analysts had predicted lower earnings of $2.32 per share but on slightly higher revenue of $8.54 billion.
The company's stock surged over 14% on Thursday despite revenues falling short of Wall Street expectations. Within Jabil's top line, diversified manufacturing services (DMS) segment revenue remained roughly consistent with the same year-ago period, while electronics manufacturing services (EMS) sales declined by 13%.
Looking forward, Jabil forecasts current quarter adjusted EPS between $2.40 per share and $2.80 per share, with revenue expected to be between $8.4 billion and $9 billion. This forecast surpassed most analysts' predictions of lower fiscal Q1 earnings of $2.32 per share on revenue of $8.54 billion.
Jabil's board of directors also significantly expanded their current share-repurchase authorization, which had roughly $776 million remaining at the end of the quarter, allowing for repurchase of up to $2.5 billion in common stock.
In August, Jabil and BYD (SZ:002594) Electronic agreed to divest Jabil’s Mobility business to the Chinese automaker’s electronics unit for cash in a transaction valued at $2.2 billion.
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