Zebra Technologies Corporation (ZBRA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Michael Smith, Chair of the Board of Zebra Technologies Corporation. Along with my fellow directors and the executive officers of Zebra, I would like to thank you for attending Zebra's 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. On behalf of everyone at Zebra, I'd like to first thank all of those working on the front lines who have worked so hard to help keep people safe during this pandemic. The health and well-being of our employees, directors and stockholders are paramount. And in that regard, we've implemented a number of social distancing measures in an effort to protect our employees, including implementing rigorous policies and procedures to ensure a safe working environment, also equipping our worksites and individuals with protective health and safety equipment and expanding opportunities for remote work and limiting employee travel. Our concern extends to you, our stockholders, and for this reason, we have chosen to do this year's annual stockholder meeting in a virtual format. The only matters to be considered at this annual meeting are those set forth in the Notice of Annual Meeting and the proxy statement. As is our custom, we'll conduct the business portion of our meeting first and answer questions at the end of the meeting. Stockholders may submit questions at any time during this meeting in the space provided on the virtual meeting screen. Though we may not be able to answer every question, we will do our best to provide a response to as many as possible. We'll also do our best to address any unanswered questions by either responding to the stockholder directly or if appropriate, on our corporate website shortly after the meeting. I'd now like to introduce Zebra's directors who are in attendance today, which is all of them. From our Board of Directors, we have Anders Gustafsson, who is also our Chief Executive Officer. We also have Linda Connly, CJ Desai, Dick Keyser, Ross Manire, Frank Modruson and Janice Roberts. In addition, members of our executive leadership team of Zebra are in attendance at today's meeting. Also Kim Simios of Ernst & Young, Zebra's independent, auditor is in attendance. And Ms. Simios will be available during the Q&A session to respond to appropriate questions. Representing Broadridge, the shareholder services company responsible for the mailing of this year's annual report and proxy and also for tabulating the results of the voting, is Mr. Jerry Lane. Cristen Kogl is serving as secretary of this meeting. Based on an affidavit from Broadridge, this meeting is duly called with timely and proper notice. And in the interest of time, we will dispense with the reading of the notice of the meeting and the affidavit of mailing of the notice. The secretary has copies of these documents and will make them available for any stockholder to examine upon request. The Board of Directors set March 19, 2021, as the record date for this annual meeting. The list of stockholders is available for inspection during this meeting by any stockholder on the website, which was used to access this meeting. The Secretary will please file a copy of the list of stockholders with the records of the company. I hereby appoint Mr. Jerry Lane, representing Broadridge, to serve as the inspector of election for the meeting. I request that he file his oath of office with the secretary of the meeting for inclusion in the minutes of this meeting. I've been advised that a quorum is present and that the formal business of the meeting may now proceed. It is 10:37 a.m. on May 14, 2021, and as of this date and time, the polls are open for voting on the matters before this annual meeting. All Zebra stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting have the ability to do so online. If you are a stockholder entitled to vote and have not yet voted or if you want to change your vote, which you previously cast, please do so via the website used to access this meeting. Please remember that if you have already voted by proxy, it's not necessary to vote again. After all proposals have been discussed, we will close the polls, and the secretary will report the results of the proposals being voted on. Since the company was not notified of the intention of any stockholder to nominate a director or to present a motion at this annual meeting in accordance with the company's bylaws, the only matters that may properly come before the meeting involving a vote of the stockholders are those that were set forth in the Notice of Annual Meeting and the proxy statement. The first item on the agenda is the election of 3 directors to the Zebra Board. The Board of Directors has nominated CJ Desai, Richard Keyser and Ross Manire. Mr. Desai, Mr. Keyser and Mr. Manire will serve for 3-year terms expiring at the 2024 annual meeting. Since there are no other nominees in accordance with the company's bylaws, Mr. Desai, Mr. Keyser and Mr. Manire are the only nominees standing for election at this meeting. The Board of Directors recommends a vote for each of the nominees for election as director. The second item on the agenda is the proposal to approve on an advisory basis, the compensation of Zebra's named executive officers. The Board of Directors recommends a vote for approval of the compensation of our named executive officers. The third and last item on our agenda is the ratification of Ernst & Young as Zebra's independent auditor for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021. And the Board of Directors recommends a vote for this proposal. As I mentioned earlier, Kim Simios of Ernst & Young is in attendance. Although Ernst & Young has indicated it does not wish to make a statement, Ms. Simios is available to respond to appropriate questions during the general Q&A period. The polls are about to close. So if you have not yet voted, please do so. [Voting]

It is now 10:40 a.m., and the polls are now closed for voting on all matters. While the inspector counts the votes, I would now like to open the floor to questions. Our Chief Executive Officer, Anders Gustafsson, is joining me, and we will take questions from the audience. We want to make sure each stockholder who wants to ask a question at the meeting has the opportunity to do so. Therefore, out of consideration for others and in the interest of time, please limit yourself to 2 questions. Mike Steele, the Zebra Vice President of Investor Relations, will now read the stockholder questions that have been submitted.

Yes. So the first question from Luis Peralta, do you have plans to increase the number of women at the Board next year?

We currently have 25% of our Board of Directors represented by women, and we always look on an ongoing basis to match the skill set of our directors and the diversity of our directors to match closely, the strategy and strategic needs of the business both today and going forward. So we're looking at that mix of skills and strategy needs on a continuing basis going forward, and we'll continue to review candidates based on those criteria.

Okay. Next question also from Luis is, are you planning to start reporting on your carbon emissions and establishing carbon reduction objectives.

So I will answer this one. We will begin CDP reporting this summer, and we plan to start SASB mapping by year-end of this year.

Okay. And our last question from David Mansfield, appears as though over the past couple of years, supply chain has become a larger and larger issue, whether it be tariffs in 2019, coronavirus in 2020, a blocked canal in 2021, chip shortages, the cancel culture and things that can no longer [indiscernible], how is Zebra dealing with this challenge?

Our supply chain team has done a great job of dealing with a number of big and unusual challenges over the last few years, tariffs, logistics caused by COVID-19 and now most recently, with extended lead times, so in the semiconductor industry, which has been reported quite widely in the press. And they -- I would say our team has dealt with us very, very well at the same time as running the supply chain for delivering to our customers and keeping the -- doing this all very efficiently and effectively. Specifically on the semiconductor shortages that have been reported, whatever shortages we see and deal with were included in the outlook that we provided at our Q1 earnings call a couple of weeks back.

That is all the questions.

Thanks, Mike. Now I call on Cristen Kogl, secretary of the meeting, for the results of the stockholder vote.

Mr. Chair, the inspector of election has counted the ballots, and he has advised me that the 3 nominees for director received a majority of votes cast. The proposal to approve the compensation of Zebra's named executive officers has received the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the votes cast. And the proposals to ratify the selection of Ernst & Young as Zebra's auditors has received the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the votes cast. The inspector will furnish a report on the final vote count with respect to all matters voted on today, and this report will be included in the minutes of the meeting.

Thank you, Cristen. Since there's no further business to come before this meeting, the meeting is adjourned, and thank you all very much for joining us.