MW This $46 billion robotics stock is up 35% after a big win. Could more gains be in store?

By William Gavin

Symbotic currently relies heavily on Walmart's business. But it just announced a new customer outside of the retail industry, and Wall Street is cheering.

Symbotic has a new relationship with Medline, a supply-chain company for the healthcare industry.

Symbotic Inc. generates the overwhelming majority of its revenue from helping automate factories for Walmart Inc. But investors are emphatically cheering a move to diversify the business.

The robotics company announced late Monday the signing of a new customer, medical supplier Medline. It's the firm's first customer in the healthcare sector, which could help Symbotic (SYM) enter an industry that has more than 500 distribution centers in the U.S.

In healthcare, "we believe the case for automation is very strong given the importance of accuracy, speed and cost," Symbotic CEO Richard Cohen said on Tuesday's earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript.

The move may help Symbotic lower its reliance on a handful of customers, which has been a source of criticism around its stock. Walmart $(WMT)$, for example, accounted for roughly 85% of Symbotic's revenue in fiscal 2025, with Symbotic saying in its last annual filing that its "ability to maintain a close, mutually beneficial relationship with Walmart is an important element in our continued growth."

Symbotic's stock was surging 35% in Tuesday afternoon trading, toward its largest one-day gain since it rose 40.2% on Nov. 21, 2023. Shares are up 215% so far this year, making the company worth about $46 billion.

"Announcing Medline as a customer opens a new end-market and validates [Symbotic's] ability to support lofty growth expectations," Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch said in a Tuesday note, reiterating a price target of $83 a share and an "outperform" rating. That implies room for the stock to run more than 10% higher than current levels.

Citi analysts led by Andrew Kaplowitz said in a late Monday note that Symbotic appears "relatively better" positioned to add new customers across different verticals. The analysts raised their price target to $70 per share from $60 per share and kept a buy rating.

Walmart, which sold Symbotic its advanced systems and robotics business in January, owns about 13% of the company's stock. Only SoftBank (JP:9984), which has a "warehouse-as-a-service" joint venture with Symbotic, owns a bigger stake, at almost 44% of shares.

Walmart and Greenbox, the Softbank joint venture, are responsible for the "vast majority" of Symbotic's $22.5 billion backlog, according to the last annual filing. And 12% percent of that backlog is expected to be recognized as revenue in fiscal year 2026.

The announcement of a new customer came alongside Symbotic's results for the latest quarter, which proved better than expected. The company reported a loss of 3 cents a share and revenue of $618 million for its fourth fiscal quarter, which ended Sept. 27. The FactSet consensus had called for a loss of 4 cents a share and revenue of $604 million.

Symbotic also said adjusted gross margins expanded to 22.1% from 17.9% during the same period in 2024. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came in at $49 million for the fourth quarter, up from $42 million a year earlier.

Looking ahead, Symbotic said it expects revenue of between $610 million and $630 million for its fiscal first quarter of 2026. It also guided for adjusted Ebitda of between $49 million and $53 million.

-William Gavin

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November 25, 2025 15:51 ET (20:51 GMT)

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