HomeBusinessAI Stock Symbotic fell 36% on Wednesday due to accounting errors. What...

AI Stock Symbotic fell 36% on Wednesday due to accounting errors. What should investors do?

Shares of Symbotic (NASDAQ: SYM)which makes artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled robots for warehouses, fell 35.9% on Wednesday on extremely heavy trading volume.

Symbotic’s shares began trading in June 2022, after the Boston-area-based company went public through a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Walmart is an investor in the company, as well as its largest customer.

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There’s a lot going on here, so let’s unpack it into smaller pieces.

Investors’ pessimism was fueled by the company’s early Wednesday release of a statement saying it had discovered accounting errors on Nov. 25, in addition to the type it disclosed on Nov. 18, as it finalized its annual report for the 2024 financial year. was preparing the form. 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company’s 2024 fiscal year ended on September 28.

The accounting errors that Symbotic disclosed on Nov. 18 when it reported fourth-quarter results were timing-related (between quarters within the fiscal year) and had no net impact on overall fiscal 2024 results, the company said at the time. But the newly discovered accounting errors – which occurred in the first Q2, Q3 and Q4 reports – will negatively impact several key measures in the 2024 budget results.

Due to the new discovery, Symbotic is delaying the filing of its annual report with the SEC as it restates its fiscal 2024 results. Moreover, the newly discovered flaws have led management to lower its expectations for the first quarter of fiscal 2025.

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Symbotic has 15 calendar days from the date of notice of late filing with the SEC to file its annual report without incurring penalties. The notice was filed on November 27, so Symbotic’s extension lasted until Thursday, December 12.

Here’s the problem the company says it discovered on November 25:

Symbotic identified revenue recognition errors related to cost overruns that are not billable for certain implementations, which additionally impacted system revenue recognized in the second, third and fourth quarters of fiscal year 2024. …The company estimates the overall impact of Correcting these errors will reduce system revenue, system gross profit, pre-income tax income (loss) and adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization] by $30 million to $40 million for fiscal 2024 compared to financial results released on November 18, 2024.

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