Symbotic Hypergrowth? $850 Price TargetOverview
Symbotic Inc. is an A.I. and robotics automation company based in Wilmington, Massachusetts that is looking to increase the ability for companies to keep up with growing demand. To do this, they utilize artificial intelligence software to maintain records and warehouse organization with the assistance of SKU numbers. Autonomous robots then account for, store, and retrieve items in a fraction of the time that it would take a human being. Symbotic's mission is to increase supply capabilities through the symbiotic relationship of artificial intelligence and robots. Its origins trace back to 2007, before it was known as Symbotic, and the company went public in 2022 ( NASDAQ:SYM ).
Call it FOMO, but I think Symbotic Inc. has the potential of becoming a hypergrowth stock. I built my own fundamentals tracker to get a pulse on the tech company's vitals and, while it still is not a profitable company, it looks like it's in the early stages of becoming so. The fundamentals for Symbotic provide me the confidence to invest despite the presence of red flags which led me to performing a deep dive. My price target for Symbotic Inc. is $850 with a projected timeline before 2030.
What I Don't Like
SYM has lost nearly 60% in value since July 2023 from a high of $64.15 to its current share price of $26.87. If you look up Symbotic Inc. on a search engine then you will also see that there are numerous law firms attempting to build class action lawsuits. The headlines can't help but to sow distrust by utilizing strong statements such as "misleading investors" and "inflated revenue" within their subjects. Within the last few weeks Symbotic had to file a delayed annual report due to self-identified accounting errors within their balance sheets. Also, if you dig through their filings, you will find that Symbotic Inc. was born from a deal with SVF Investment Corp which, according to the filings, was headquartered in the Cayman Islands.
I can only assume that the business dealings with SVF Investment Corp were to facilitate equity financing and an expedited public launch for SYM. From my findings, SoftBank Group Corp ( TSE:9984 ) is an investment conglomerate and the parent company to multiple subsidiaries. You guessed it, it is affiliated with SVF Investment Corp which functions as a "blank check company" for SoftBank. In my limited knowledge, this translates as a way for SoftBank to inject a substantial investment into the company that is now known as Symbotic Inc. No matter how savvy they may have been to launch Symbotic Inc., business deals that originate in the Cayman Islands typically raise one's eyebrows.
What I Do Like
Symbotic Inc. seems to have a pretty solid vision for global expansion and has attracted some significant institutional investors such as SoftBank, Vanguard, BlackRock, and Morgan Stanley to name a few. In fact, according to the NASDAQ site, 282 institutional investors hold 82% of Symbotic Inc.'s Class A Common Stock. Symbotic Inc. was founded by Richard "Rick" Cohen who currently serves as the CEO and is a legacy to the Cohen family who founded C&S Wholesale Grocers. Symbotic's technology is used by C&S Wholesale Grocers which is one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.
Symbotic and SoftBank have partnered on a separate venture known as GreenBox which is meant to deliver automated warehouses made possible by Symbotic's hardware and software. According to the company's site, GreenBox is supplying warehouses as a service to consumers. With an increase in online shopping, I believe that Symbotic is both seeing and filling a need in an industry that its founder is very familiar with. I can also envision Symbotic spreading its reach internationally which helps fuel my massive price target. Megacap stocks need to have a global influence and extend across industries, which Symbotic appears to be preparing for.
Fundamentals
Right now, Symbotic Inc. is in its early stages and is bringing in a negative income which makes it a risky investment. However, the company's total revenue has increased by 200% from 2022-Q4 to 2024-Q4; the gross profit has also increased by 147% in the same timeframe. Symbotic's net income has revealed consistent losses since 2022, but the 2024 annual report had the smallest loss on record at a negative $84.7M which is a 39% improvement from 2022 and a 59% improvement from 2023. No matter which way you cut it, the company is still absorbing annual losses so it will be important to keep an eye on improvements and deficiencies to identify any consistent trends.
NASDAQ:SYM has 585,963,959 total outstanding shares according to the 2024 Annual Report published at the beginning of December. This is a far cry from the 106M outstanding shares reported on some financial websites and even here on TradingView. From my findings, around 100M of Symbotic's shares are Class A Common Stocks and the remaining 485M are Class V Common Stocks. My focus is on the market capitalization which is a tool that I like to use when establishing long-term price targets. For Symbotic, which has the potential for global reach and use across multiple industries, I think it's reasonable to achieve a market capitalization of $500B.
Price Target
With the current number of outstanding shares at a market cap of $500B, this would place Symbotic's share price at $853. This type of growth would turn a $1,000 investment today into $31,710 at the projected target price; a whopping 3,000% return. HOWEVER, a lot has to happen to make this come to fruition. One thing I would like to see, in addition to profitability, is for Symbotic to begin buying back its own stock.
It's become my investing philosophy that companies who believe they are undervalued will buyback their shares while companies that believe they are overvalued will issue new shares. Symbotic's total outstanding shares have increased by 5.8% since its annual report at the end of 2022. I think that my philosophy is best tailored to established companies so it is possible that Symbotic could be an exception. Because the company is so new, it may need to issue more shares to generate enough capital to stay afloat while its roots set.
