Arrow Q4 sales tumble
Arrow Electronics Q4 sales fell 16% year-on-year to $7.84 billion. Full year sales to December 31, 2023 dropped 11% to $33.1 billion.
Profit fell to $195 million from $349 million the previous year.
Global component sales declined 18% year-on-year to $5.6 billion in the fourth quarter and dipped 12% in the full year to $25.4 billion.
Enterprise computing solutions business was down 11.6% year-on-year in the fourth quarter and slipped 7% in the full year to $7.7 billion.
“The company delivered fourth-quarter sales in line with our expectations, with earnings per share above the high end of our guidance range in challenging electronic components and IT spending markets,” said Sean Kerins, Arrow’s president and chief executive officer.
“Despite excess inventory throughout the supply chain leading to softer demand in our components business, and a mixed IT spending environment for our enterprise computing solutions business, full-year 2023 results were solid. Arrow generated healthy cashflow from operations that enabled the company to repurchase approximately $750 million of shares throughout the year,” said Kerins. “Looking ahead, and given the current market dynamics, we’ll manage our cost structure and working capital prudently while continuing to remain committed to growth initiatives where our differentiation provides value to our suppliers and customers.”
“During the quarter, we experienced continued weakness in our industrial end markets for components. We saw relative strength in aerospace and defence, and medical device verticals in the west along with sequential growth in data centre and transportation markets in Asia,” added Kerins.
“In our enterprise computing solutions business, momentum continued to build in infrastructure software, as-a-service solutions and related services,” said Kerins. “In EMEA, we achieved year-on-year billings growth in the fourth quarter while our North America results reflected a more muted IT spending environment.”
In the first quarter of 2024 Arrow is estimating consolidated sales of $6.70 billion to $7.30 billion, with global components sales of $5.00 billion to $5.40 billion, and global enterprise computing solutions sales of $1.70 billion to $1.90 billion