CFO Ken Jacobson highlighted an uneven recovery across Avnet’s global operations, with Asia posting six consecutive quarters of growth and reaching record revenue levels. Europe returned to growth with 1% year-over-year gains but is still 35% below its prior peak, while the Americas showed moderate growth in recent quarters. Backlog replenishing has been supported by robust book-to-bill ratios and improved customer demand visibility.

Avnet’s EC business saw operating margin expand by 30 basis points in the most recent quarter, with guidance signaling another 30 bps increase for the March period. The company maintains a goal of sustaining operating margins above 5%, citing a current EC margin floor near 3% versus about 1.5% in the previous cycle. Pricing pressures are focused in specific areas like memory and precious metals, with broad-based increases not yet prevalent.

Farnell, Avnet’s high-service segment, delivers higher gross margins at roughly 30% compared to the EC business’s 10–12% range by serving design engineers and R&D customers with small-quantity orders. Avnet is integrating Farnell more closely with its core distribution operations to cross-sell to EMS clients and leverage e-commerce enhancements. Farnell’s broader SKU portfolio and digital investments aim to seed new product introductions and capture higher-margin opportunities as Western markets recover.