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Here's Why Plexus (PLXS) Seems an Attractive Bet Post Q4 Results

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Plexus Corp (PLXS - Free Report) is one stock that investors may consider adding to their portfolio to combat the highly-volatile market environment and make some gains from its upside potential.

Let’s look at the factors that make the stock an attractive pick.

Shares Outperformed: Wall Street is facing extreme volatility due to macroeconomic factors such as rising inflation and interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, along with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, increased crude oil prices and lingering supply-chain woes.

The above-mentioned factors are taking a toll on major U.S. indices. Year to date, the S&P 500 has declined 20.9%.

In such a scenario, stocks such as Plexus can be a sound addition to one’s investment portfolio. Amid the ongoing volatility, the company’s shares have gained 11.2% in the past year compared with the sub-industry’s 6.8% gain.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Solid Rank: Plexus currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Northward Estimate Revisions: The Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.98 per share for fiscal 2023 earnings has increased 8.9% in the past 60 days. For fiscal 2024, the consensus mark for earnings is pegged at $6.55, up 6.7% over the past 60 days.

The company reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2022 adjusted earnings of $1.78 per share, which jumped 53.4% year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is pegged at $1.28 per share.

Revenues of $1.12 billion topped the consensus mark by 11.1% and increased 33.3% year over year.

Positive Earnings Surprise History: Plexus has an impressive surprise record. Earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, the average being 17.5%.

Strong Fundamental Drivers

Plexus is a leading provider of electronic contract manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers in a wide range of industries, including networking/ communications, health care/life sciences, industrial/ commercial and defense/security/aerospace.

In the fourth quarter, the company’s performance was boosted by a solid demand environment and new program ramps, which led to revenue growth across all segments and regions.

The company won new manufacturing programs worth $214 million through new customer wins in vehicle, truck and bus electrification. Also, trailing four-quarter manufacturing wins totaled a record $1 billion in annualized revenues.

The company expects Industrial sector and Healthcare/Life Sciences sector customer wins to generate significant revenues in fiscal 2023. Also, the funnel of qualified manufacturing is expected to benefit from customers re-evaluating their internal manufacturing strategies.

PLXS is well-positioned to benefit from growing secular market trends in warehouse and factory automation, vehicle electrification, commercial space and robotic-assisted surgery.

For first-quarter fiscal 2023, revenues are projected to be between $1.08 billion and $1.13 billion. GAAP earnings are expected to be in the range of $1.40-$1.58 per share, including 20 cents of stock-based compensation expenses.

Few headwinds

Apart from its solid fundamentals, the company is prone to several risks. The company operates in a highly competitive and capital-intensive contract manufacturing industry. This is likely to negatively impact the company’s performance.

Also, the company is dependent on few customers for a major part of its revenues which exposes the company to customer concentration risks.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are Arista Networks (ANET - Free Report) , Pure Storage (PSTG - Free Report) and Jabil (JBL - Free Report) . Jabil and Arista Networks currently sports a Zacks Rank #1, whereas Pure Storage currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Arista Networks 2022 earnings is pegged at $4.33 per share, up 7.2% in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is anticipated to be 17.5%.

Arista Networks earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, the average being 12.7%. Shares of ANET have decreased 1.1% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PSTG 2022 earnings is pegged at $1.18 per share, unchanged in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is anticipated to be 35.5%.

Pure Storage’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, the average being 171.8%. Shares of PSTG have increased 9% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Jabil’s fiscal 2023 earnings is pegged at $8.18 per share, rising 3.8 in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is anticipated to be 12%.

Jabil’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters, the average being 9.3%. Shares of JBL have decreased 0.1% in the past year.


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