Arrow Electronics may be a good indicator of what’s going on in the electronic components and computer products businesses. Today the company reported both good news and bad news. The good news is that beat estimates, reporting $4.14 per share while analysts on average had expected the company to earn $3.51 per share. The bad news is the real stuff on the ground: The quarter’s revenue was down 14% year over year, with sales valued at $8.01 billion. And the profit decline was even more pronounced, down 41.8% to $199 million.
Despite the figures that show a contraction versus the year-ago quarter, the company’s president, Sean Kerins said Arrow “executed well amidst an inventory correction in the semiconductor market and a softer information technology market, delivering non-GAAP earnings per share at the high end of our guidance range.”
Just as many ITAD vendors active in the component business in the secondary market told us, sales have been down due to a number of factors, including elevated inventories, and Arrow confirmed that trend with global components third-quarter sales of $6.25 billion, down 14% year over year. While Europe was a rather bright spot, component sales in the Americas fell 24% year over year. Just as many ITADs also stated, Arrow’s sales into the Enterprise Computing Solutions’ business (ECS) sales in the Americas decreased 18% year over year.
