Symbotic lifts revenue 29% to $630 million and swings to profit, but Walmart still supplies 86% of sales
Symbotic reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of $629.9 million on 4 February 2026, up 29% from a year earlier, with net income of $13.4 million and adjusted EBITDA of $66.9 million. Its backlog stood at $22.3 billion and it guided second-quarter revenue to $650 million to $670 million.
Walmart accounted for 85.6% of revenue, and a change in stock-compensation accounting added $9.3 million to profit.
Symbotic, the US warehouse automation company whose largest customer is Walmart, reported on 4 February 2026 revenue of $629.9 million for its fiscal first quarter ended 27 December 2025. That was 29% more than the $486.7 million of the same quarter a year earlier, and the company booked net income of $13.4 million against a net loss of $16.9 million.
Adjusted EBITDA rose to $66.9 million from $17.9 million, according to the company's release. Gross margin widened to 21.2% from 16.6%, and adjusted gross margin reached 23.4%. Systems revenue, which covers building and installing warehouse systems, came to $590.3 million, while software maintenance and support added $10.9 million and operation services $28.8 million. For the fiscal second quarter Symbotic guided revenue of $650 million to $670 million and adjusted EBITDA of $70 million to $75 million.
The balance sheet changed more than the income statement. Cash and equivalents reached $1.819 billion at quarter end, up $574 million in three months. Of that, $424.4 million net came from the sale of 8,000,000 Class A shares, the quarterly report filed with the SEC shows. Operating cash flow was $191.5 million, capital spending only $2.1 million, and free cash flow $189.5 million.
- Revenue (USD m)
- 629.9
- 486.7
- +29.4%
- Gross margin (%)
- 21.2
- 16.6
- +4.6 pts
- Net income (USD m)
- 13.4
- -16.9
- swing to profit
- Adjusted EBITDA (USD m)
- 66.9
- 17.9
- 3.7x
- R&D expense (USD m)
- 43
- 43.3
- -0.7%
- International revenue (USD m)
- 24.3
- 0.5
- about 48x
- Walmart share of revenue (%)
- 85.6
- 86.1
- -0.5 pts
From Symbotic's 4 February 2026 release and 10-Q for the quarter ended 27 December 2025. Changes derived from disclosed figures.
As of Oct 1, 2026
What sits behind the profit
The headline profit needs two adjustments to read correctly. The 10-Q discloses that Symbotic switched the expensing of graded-vesting stock awards from the accelerated method to the straight-line method, which the company said is predominant in its industry. The change added $9.3 million to net income in the quarter, so on the old method profit would have been about $4.1 million. In addition, $10.8 million of the $13.4 million was attributable to noncontrolling interests, leaving $2.6 million for Class A shareholders, or $0.02 a share. The switch did not change operating cash flow, the filing states.
Backlog and customers
Remaining performance obligations, the contracted revenue not yet recognised, stood at $22.3 billion on 27 December 2025. The filing expects 13% of it, roughly $2.9 billion, to be recognised over the next 12 months and 62% over the following 13 to 60 months. Walmart, shown as Customer A, accounted for 85.6% of quarterly revenue, against 86.1% a year earlier. The XBRL data attached to the 10-Q tie the backlog to automation of 42 Walmart regional distribution centres and list 400 Accelerated Pickup and Delivery (APD) systems with a value of $5 billion attached to a separate purchase arrangement. Symbotic took over Walmart's Advanced Systems and Robotics unit for $200 million in a deal completed on 27 January 2025, according to its filings.
The investor presentation filed with the results counts 57 systems in deployment, 51 operational systems and 11 customers, naming Walmart, C&S Wholesale Grocers and Albertsons. It describes Exol, the former GreenBox Systems venture with SoftBank in which Symbotic holds 35%, as carrying a six-year contract worth about $11 billion. International revenue rose to $24.3 million from $0.5 million, and the 10-Q refers to a commercial agreement with Walmart's Mexican arm, Nueva Wal Mart de México.
How the system works
A Symbotic installation replaces aisles of racking and forklifts inside a distribution centre with a dense storage structure. Fleets of autonomous mobile robots travel inside it to store and retrieve cases, and robotic arms build mixed pallets for delivery to stores. The company presented a next-generation storage structure in August 2025 that it says is denser and faster to assemble, and a BreakPack add-on that lets the same system pick individual items rather than whole cases.
Against its peers
The closest listed comparison is AutoStore, the Norwegian maker of cube storage systems, which reported fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of $179.7 million on 12 February 2026, up 9.0%, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 43.3%, order intake of $194.2 million and an order backlog of $557.0 million. Teradyne's robotics segment, home of Universal Robots and MiR, posted fourth-quarter revenue of $89 million, the group said on 2 February 2026. Among private rivals, France's Exotec raised a $335 million Series D at a $2 billion valuation in January 2022 and Locus Robotics a $117 million Series F in November 2022. Symbotic's model sits at the other end from AutoStore's. It delivers whole distribution centres at modest margins but carries a backlog 40 times larger.
- Symbotic
- Nasdaq: SYM
- 2025-12-27
- 629.9
- 29
- 66.9
- 10.6
- AutoStore
- Oslo: AUTO
- 2025-12-31
- 179.7
- 9
- 77.9
- 43.3
- Teradyne Robotics (segment)
- Nasdaq: TER
- 2025-12-31
- 89
- No data
- No data
- No data
Figures as reported by each company. Symbotic margin derived = adjusted EBITDA / revenue; AutoStore margin as reported. Teradyne does not report segment EBITDA in the release; — = not disclosed.
As of Oct 1, 2026
Risks and open questions
The dependence on Walmart is the obvious exposure, and 13% of the backlog converting within a year means most of the $22.3 billion is a promise for 2027 and beyond. The margin gain is real at the gross level, but the accounting change and the minority interests make the bottom line thinner than it looks. Symbotic also recorded $2.7 million of restructuring charges in the quarter. Whether Exol and Walmart Mexico can dilute the concentration is the question that matters most for valuation.
MEKAWIRE analysis
Symbotic's first quarter shows that its gross margin is finally rising with volume, yet the business remains a Walmart capital programme with a listed equity attached.
The evidence for improvement is in cash and gross profit rather than net income. Gross margin rose 4.6 percentage points, adjusted EBITDA nearly quadrupled and free cash flow reached $189.5 million in a single quarter, while research spending held flat at $43.0 million.
The strongest counter-argument is concentration. A customer providing 85.6% of revenue sets the pace of deployments, negotiates the price and, through the APD arrangement, controls the next leg of growth as well.
Bull case: Exol and Walmart Mexico turn into visible revenue lines, the next-generation structure lowers installation cost, and margins climb toward the mid-20s as more of the 57 systems in deployment are completed. The $1.8 billion cash pile funds growth without new equity.
Bear case: Walmart reschedules sites, the conversion curve stretches, and investors treat the $22.3 billion backlog as a long-dated contract with one counterparty. Low-margin systems work then keeps Symbotic valued as an integrator rather than a robotics platform.
Signals to watch:
- Whether second-quarter revenue lands inside the $650 million to $670 million range in the report covering the three months to the end of March 2026.
- The first separate disclosure of Exol or Walmart Mexico revenue in a 2026 filing.
- Any move of the 400 APD systems from a contingent arrangement into firm backlog during fiscal 2026.
- $1.819 billion after $424.4 million share sale
- Fiscal Q1 2026, ended 27 December 2025
- $629.9 million, up 29%
- 57 in deployment, 51 operational, 11 customers
- $13.4 million (loss of $16.9 million a year earlier)
- 21.2% (16.6% a year earlier)
- $22.3 billion, 13% due within 12 months
- $66.9 million (from $17.9 million)
- Revenue $650 million to $670 million, adjusted EBITDA $70 million to $75 million
- 85.6%
Why it matters
Symbotic is the largest pure-play listed warehouse robotics company by revenue, and its quarterly figures are the best public read on how fast US retailers are converting distribution centres to robotic storage and palletising. A 29% rise in revenue alongside a 4.6-point gain in gross margin suggests that installation is moving from first-of-a-kind projects to repeatable builds.
The quarter also reset the balance sheet. With $1.819 billion of cash and positive free cash flow of $189.5 million, Symbotic can fund its next-generation structure, Exol deployments and the APD programme without returning to the market soon, which reduces the dilution risk that weighed on the shares after the 8,000,000-share sale.
Rival analysis
AutoStore earns a 43.3% adjusted EBITDA margin because it sells a standardised cube system through integrators and leaves installation to partners. Symbotic's 10.6% adjusted EBITDA margin reflects the opposite choice: it designs, builds and commissions entire distribution centres, capturing far more revenue per site at much lower margin. Teradyne's robotics segment, at $89 million a quarter, sells general-purpose cobots and mobile robots and competes only at the edges.
Private rivals Exotec and Locus Robotics target each-picking and mobile picking in fulfilment centres, while Symbotic's core is case handling for store replenishment. The BreakPack add-on pushes Symbotic into each-picking, where Exotec and AutoStore are strongest, so overlap will grow.
Valuation context
No new valuation mark comes from the quarter itself, but derived ratios give context. Adjusted EBITDA margin rose to 10.6% from 3.7% (adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue). The $22.3 billion backlog is about 8.9 times the annualised first-quarter revenue of $2.52 billion ($629.9 million times four), and 40 times AutoStore's $557.0 million order backlog.
Investors should discount the net income line for the $9.3 million accounting change and the $10.8 million share of noncontrolling interests. On a like-for-like basis, profit attributable to Class A shareholders was close to break-even.
Supply-chain implications
Symbotic's systems combine steel storage structure, autonomous mobile robots, robotic palletising cells, batteries and fleet software. Capital spending of only $2.1 million in the quarter shows that it relies heavily on outsourced manufacturing and site construction partners rather than its own factories.
The 400 APD systems for Walmart stores would add a new, more distributed product line, which will test whether the supply chain can scale from tens of distribution centres to hundreds of smaller sites.
Signals to watch
The second-quarter report is the first check on whether revenue can land within the $650 million to $670 million guidance. A miss would suggest Walmart is pacing site starts more slowly.
Separate revenue disclosure for Exol and Walmart Mexico would show diversification, and any change in the number of systems in deployment from 57 indicates future revenue more directly than the backlog figure.
Analyst view
Thesis: Symbotic has crossed into sustainable gross-margin expansion, but its equity story still depends on one customer. Confidence: medium. Reasons: cash generation and gross margin are verified and strong, while the net profit is flattered by an accounting change and the backlog converts slowly.
We would move to high confidence if a non-Walmart customer reached 10% of revenue or if APD systems entered firm backlog. We would cut to low if guidance is missed or the 13% near-term conversion share falls.
Questions you should be asking
How much of the 22.3 billion dollar backlog belongs to Exol, and when do those systems start contributing revenue?
What margin does Symbotic expect on the next-generation storage structure compared with the current design?
On what terms would the 400 APD systems become a firm order, and who controls the timing?