Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.77 EPS

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $3.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.77, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Avnet had a net margin of 1.74% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 81.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share.

Here are the key takeaways from Avnet’s conference call:

• Avnet delivered record first-quarter sales of $10.7 billion and adjusted EPS of $3.63, both above expectations. For Q2, it forecast sales of $11.1 billion–$11.4 billion and adjusted EPS of $3.90–$4.10.
• Management said demand is improving broadly across regions and end markets, with book-to-bill above parity and backlog growing; it views the recovery as broader than inventory replenishment alone. Data center, aerospace and defense, and networking were among the strongest areas.
• Operating leverage lifted adjusted operating margin to 4.7%, its highest level since fiscal 2023. Electronic Components reached 4.8% margin, with 5% expected in the second half of fiscal 2027, while Farnell returned to a double-digit margin at 10.1%.
• Growth required a substantial working-capital investment: Avnet used $842 million of operating cash and debt increased by about $950 million. The company expects to raise additional capital to fund growth and anticipates positive cash flow by fiscal year-end.
• Lead times are lengthening across more component categories, and pricing increases are beginning to extend beyond memory; management said about one-third of sales growth came from memory pricing. It said supply constraints have not materially limited growth or the Q2 outlook so far, but is monitoring availability and customer impacts.

Avnet Price Performance

Shares of AVT stock traded up $2.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $78.92. The company had a trading volume of 789,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,273,204. Avnet has a 52-week low of $44.25 and a 52-week high of $108.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.11.

Avnet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is a boost from Avnet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 9th. Avnet’s payout ratio is presently 22.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avnet

In other Avnet news, CEO Philip R. Gallagher sold 51,900 shares of Avnet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.46, for a total value of $5,110,074.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 168,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,632,158.58. The trade was a 23.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Michael Ryan Mccoy sold 32,052 shares of Avnet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.10, for a total transaction of $2,919,937.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 76,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,985,001.40. This represents a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on AVT shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Avnet from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research lowered Avnet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Avnet from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Avnet from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Avnet from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Avnet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.25.

Avnet Company Profile

Avnet, Inc is a global technology distributor that helps manufacturers and design engineers source electronic components and develop products. The company supplies semiconductors, embedded processors, memory, connectivity products, sensors, power-management components and other electronic parts used in industrial, automotive, communications, computing, aerospace and defense applications.

In addition to component distribution, Avnet provides engineering and design services, supply-chain management, product customization, logistics, and technical support.