Benzinga | Jul 22, 2021 06:51AM EDT

Plexus Beats On Q3 Earnings, Issues Q4 Guidance

* Plexus Corp (NASDAQ:PLXS) reported a third-quarter revenue decline of 5% year-on-year at $814 million, missing the analyst consensus of $840.9 million.

* Revenue from the Americas rose 4.2% Y/Y to $319 million, Asia-Pacific declined 7.3% to $447 million, and Europe, Middle East, and Africa decreased 17.4% to $76 million.

* Revenue from the Industrial market sector declined 3.6% Y/Y to $372 million, Healthcare/Life Sciences decreased 1.8% to $324 million, and Aerospace/Defense declined 16.3% to $118 million.

* The gross margin contracted 60 basis points to 9.1%, and the operating margin contracted 80 basis points to 4.5%.

* The adjusted EPS of $0.99 beat the analyst consensus of $0.97.

* Plexus held $307.5 million in cash and equivalents and generated $42.7 million in operating cash flow.

* It repurchased shares worth $27.3 million in Q3.

* Plexus won 31 new manufacturing programs representing $275 million in annualized revenue when fully ramped into production, CEO Todd Kelsey said. The trailing Q4 wins expanded from the prior quarter to $1.1 billion.

* Outlook: Plexus sees Q4 revenue of $875 million- $915 million versus the analyst consensus of $903.2 million.

* It sees a Q4 operating margin between 4.8%-5.2%.

* The Q4 GAAP EPS guidance is $1.13 - $1.29, compared to the analyst consensus of $1.27.

* Price action: PLXS shares closed up 2.52% at $87.58 on Wednesday.