Shares of Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA) rose 25.1% in April 2020, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The maker of barcode readers and printers, data management systems, and rugged mobile computers got an assist from fellow asset-tracking expert Impinj (NASDAQ: PI) and followed up with a strong earnings report of its own.
Zebra largely tracked the S&P 500's swings and bumps through most of April, but the stock started pulling away from the pack when radio frequency identification (RFID) specialist Impinj reported impressive first-quarter results. It was Zebra's turn to publish first-quarter results the very next morning, and it was a rock-solid showing. The company largely met Wall Street's expectations in spite of significant COVID-19 disruption to Zebra's manufacturing and shipping operations, including a government-ordered state of martial law in Malaysia.
"We wanted to start ramping our new manufacturing facilities in Vietnam and Malaysia the Monday after the Chinese New Year," said Zebra CEO Anders Gustafsson in a phone interview with yours truly. "That obviously did not happen quite the way we had expected."