Mitrade Insights is dedicated to providing investors with rich, timely and most valuable financial information to help investors grasp the market situation and find timely trading opportunities.

2021

Best News & Analysis Provider

FxDailyInfo

2022

Best Forex Educational Resources Global

International Business Magazine

Insights

News

Move Over, Tesla: This Robotics Stock Already Has Paying Customers

Source The Motley Fool

Key Points

While hype continues to build around Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots, Symbotic is already generating billions in revenue from robotics.
With a $22 billion backlog, Symbotic's metrics do help to assess near-term future potential.
Consider Symbotic a complement (rather than a replacement) for Tesla if you're looking for long-term exposure to the robotics trend.
10 stocks we like better than Symbotic ›

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) hasn't released its Optimus humanoid robot commercially, but the hype surrounding it remains high. In fact, recent news about supplier audits in China suggests that a massive ramp-up in Optimus production could begin later this year.

While Tesla's Optimus catalyst gets closer, consider that there's already a company in the robotics field generating material revenue from customers. Maybe Tesla shouldn't be the sole wager among robotics stocks.

Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »

Production line robotics systems perform tasks in a factory.

Image source: Getty Images.

A Tesla competitor has already monetized robotics

Tesla may hope to make money from robotics one day, but Symbotic (NASDAQ: SYM) is already doing so. Symbotic is not in the business of building and selling humanoid robots. Rather, the Wilmington, Massachusetts, company focuses on developing automated warehouse systems. With strategic partner Walmart serving as its main customer, Symbotic generated over $2.2 billion in revenue during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 27, 2025.

This fiscal year, analyst estimates call for sales of around $2.8 billion, a nearly 25% increase. Symbotic's backlog is climbing as well. As disclosed in the company's latest quarterly earnings release, its backlog currently totals $22.5 billion.

Two caveats and a takeaway

Symbotic remains highly reliant on Walmart. Not only is the retailer Symbotic's largest customer, making up 85% of fiscal year 2025 sales, but Walmart also previously sold its own robotics business to Symbotic in 2025, and the lion's share of Symbotic's pipeline is Walmart-related.

Alongside this lack of customer diversification, Symbotic has experienced slowing sales growth. With this, Symbotic, once a top robotics stock, has seen its stock price fall about 27% since the start of the year.

While Symbotic is ahead in terms of commercialization, don't view it as a stronger robotics play than Tesla, per se. If Optimus lives up to the hype and offers end users a more dynamic robotics and automation technology, it may further stymie Symbotic's ability to grow beyond its main customer. Still, for now, Symbotic offers investors what Tesla can't just yet: robotics revenue. It's a stock to complement, not replace, Tesla.

Should you buy stock in Symbotic right now?

Before you buy stock in Symbotic, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Symbotic wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $387,158!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,365,749!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 932% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 211% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of September 22, 2026.

Thomas Niel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Symbotic, Tesla, and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Disclaimer: For information purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Recommended Articles

Dollar index tops 100 for the first time since July as the Fed's hawkish dot plot sinks in The U.S. dollar index broke back above 100 for the first time since 31 July after the Fed delivered its first rate hike since 2023, with the dot plot showing 16 of 18 officials expect at least one more increase this year. Here are the levels that matter for DXY, the currencies feeling it most, and what to watch next.

Author Irene Q.

Sep 17, Thu

The U.S. dollar index broke back above 100 for the first time since 31 July after the Fed delivered its first rate hike since 2023, with the dot plot showing 16 of 18 officials expect at least one more increase this year. Here are the levels that matter for DXY, the currencies feeling it most, and what to watch next.

Gold ends three-week slide at the $4,400 line — eight straight days of ETF inflows vs a 5% 10-year and a 100 dollar Spot gold closed Friday at $4,378.39, up 0.84% on the day and about 0.8% for the week — its first weekly gain in four weeks — with the intraday high of $4,399.67 leaving it 33 cents shy of the $4,400 line. Gold ETFs have now logged eight straight sessions of inflows, but with the 10-year back above 5% and the dollar index near 100, here is what decides whether this is a reversal or a bounce.

Author Suzie

Sep 20, Sun

Spot gold closed Friday at $4,378.39, up 0.84% on the day and about 0.8% for the week — its first weekly gain in four weeks — with the intraday high of $4,399.67 leaving it 33 cents shy of the $4,400 line. Gold ETFs have now logged eight straight sessions of inflows, but with the 10-year back above 5% and the dollar index near 100, here is what decides whether this is a reversal or a bounce.

October hike odds climb toward 60% as Goldman and BofA both flip — what Warsh's "dose of accommodation" really changed Rate futures now price roughly 55% to 62% for a 25bp hike at the October 27-28 FOMC, up from about 30% before Chair Warsh's post-meeting framing that the Fed is merely "removing some accommodation." Goldman Sachs has added an October hike to its forecast and Bank of America now sees moves in both October and December. Here is the repricing, the language behind it, and the two data points that decide it.

Author Irene Q.

8 hours ago

Rate futures now price roughly 55% to 62% for a 25bp hike at the October 27-28 FOMC, up from about 30% before Chair Warsh's post-meeting framing that the Fed is merely "removing some accommodation." Goldman Sachs has added an October hike to its forecast and Bank of America now sees moves in both October and December. Here is the repricing, the language behind it, and the two data points that decide it.

Memory chips surge, Nasdaq notches a second straight record close — why the Dow fell 185 points anyway Micron gained 5%, SanDisk 6.8%, Seagate 4% and Western Digital 3% as the memory complex led the Nasdaq Composite to a second consecutive record close of 27,244.28. But the Dow fell 185 points as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Schwab slid more than 3% each — a split tape that says more about positioning than about the economy.

Author Irene Q.

8 hours ago

Micron gained 5%, SanDisk 6.8%, Seagate 4% and Western Digital 3% as the memory complex led the Nasdaq Composite to a second consecutive record close of 27,244.28. But the Dow fell 185 points as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Schwab slid more than 3% each — a split tape that says more about positioning than about the economy.

Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD drifts toward $4.300 with bears gaining traction Gold (XAU/USD) retraces Tuesday’s gains on Wednesday and drifts lower, approaching the $4,300 area as the US Dollar Index (DXY) rallies further amid high US Treasury yields.

Author FXStreet

4 hours ago

Gold (XAU/USD) retraces Tuesday’s gains on Wednesday and drifts lower, approaching the $4,300 area as the US Dollar Index (DXY) rallies further amid high US Treasury yields.

Popular Symbols