Amazon's Warehouse Robot Army Keeps Growing. Is Symbotic Still the Best Way to Play It?

Amazon's Warehouse Robot Army Keeps Growing. Is Symbotic Still the Best Way to Play It? Jack Delaney, The Motley Fool Wed, July 29, 2026 at 5:25 PM GMT+2 4 min read AMZN NVDA Amazon has been an early adopter of warehouse automation, deploying over 1 million robots across its operations network since 2012.

Its fulfillment center in Shreveport, Louisiana, uses eight different robotics systems for package fulfillment and delivery, and robots are used across Amazon's other warehouses to also sort, lift, and carry packages. One way to invest in warehouse robotics is just to buy Amazon stock. Those robots can help boost efficiency, which can lead to increased profitability; Amazon's advanced facilities can cut processing times by 25%.

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 » There is, however, another company in the warehouse robotics field trading at a fraction of Amazon's cost, around $40 as of this writing: Symbotic (NASDAQ: SYM). Image source: Getty Images.

Cooling down after heating up Symbotic had a huge run in 2025 as it expanded its client base and reported solid revenue growth in a growing field that's catching investors' attention; shares climbed 150% in 2025. In 2026, however, it's been a different story, with shares dropping more than 30%. Part of that drop is just that expectations were high after the stock price run-up in 2025.

For instance, Symbotic reported revenue climbed 23% to $676 million in its fiscal 2026 second-quarter earnings report. The robotics company also swung from a net loss of $10 million to net income of $9 million in the second quarter of 2026. That said, it missed the mark for analysts on earnings per share (EPS), reporting EPS of $0.

01 against expectations of $0. 12. With that context in mind, there are still plenty of reasons to like Symbotic's long-term potential .

A new acquisition On July 2, Symbotic announced that it completed the acquisition of ARMS Innovation. ARMS provides real-time intelligence for automated warehouse environments, further enhancing Symbotic's offerings. The company said: By integrating ARMS's advanced software capabilities, the Symbotic System will expand beyond industry-leading automation into a comprehensive, real-time operational solution that unifies and optimizes every element of warehouse performance -- across both automated systems and human workflows.

Essentially, a robot can be programmed to perform a task, but its ability to function can go awry if something out of the ordinary happens. Integrating ARMS into warehouse automation, however, enables real-time disruption identification and predictive maintenance. The software can also identify who is working on-site, assign workers to where they are needed most, and even order parts.

Story Continues A strategic backstop A worry some investors have with Symbotic is its reliance on Walmart , as 85% of its fiscal 2025 revenue came from the retail giant. In addition, a large portion of the company's $22. 5 billion backlog at the end of 2025 was from Walmart.

That's a significant customer concentration risk, which is often counted as a knock against Symbotic. That relationship, however, has some nuance, as Walmart serves more as a protective backstop for Symbotic with upside potential than as a concentration risk. For starters, as of March 31, Walmart owns an 11.

7% stake in the robot company, which means it should be rooting for its financial success as much as anyone. Second, Walmart sold its advanced systems and robotics business to Symbotic in 2025 for $200 million while also paying Symbotic $520 million for automation systems it wants to add to 400 of its accelerated pickup and delivery centers. All of that combined has both companies tied together for the foreseeable future.

Is Symbotic worth the investment? Warehouse automation is not a trend that is going away. The global automation warehouse market is expected to grow from $27.

4 billion in 2026 to $59. 5 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research. That gives Symbotic a lot of opportunity ahead, but it may still struggle to get out of its slump in 2026.

Symbotic will report earnings on Aug. 5, and with expectations so high, anything short of a stellar report could send the stock price lower. But in the long term, for investors who can handle the risk and want an investment in the growing robotics market in their portfolio, Symbotic could fit as a small, speculative position.

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 $390,394 ! * Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005...

if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,209,184 ! * Now, it's worth noting  Stock Advisor's total average return is 899% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 206% 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 July 29, 2026. Jack Delaney has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Symbotic, and Walmart.

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . Amazon's Warehouse Robot Army Keeps Growing. Is Symbotic Still the Best Way to Play It?