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Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Q2 Earnings Top Estimates, Stock Up

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Shares of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL - Free Report) — popularly known as JLL — appreciated 9.48% during Wednesday’s regular trading session on the NYSE after the real estate services company reported stellar results for the second quarter on strong rebound in its transaction-based businesses.

JLL reported second-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings of $4.20 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.44. The reported figure is also significantly ahead of the prior-year quarter figure of 71 cents.

Revenues for the quarter came in at $4.5 billion, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.95 billion and 22.5% ahead of the year-ago quarter tally.

Results reflect broad-based growth across all segments and service lines with many geographies experiencing macroeconomic recovery. The second quarter saw a strong rebound in Leasing and Capital Markets.

According to Christian Ulbrich, JLL CEO, "Continued investments in our platform, people and technology, coupled with financial discipline and strong operational execution, have been instrumental to our success. Given the strong momentum in the business, the successful integration of HFF and increased visibility into a post-pandemic future, we are increasing our 2021 Adjusted EBITDA margin target range to 16% to 19%."

Apart from this, adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter, calculated on a fee-revenue basis, was 18.3% (18.5% in local currency) compared with 8.3% in2020. This highlights substantial improvement in revenues, mainly from higher margin transaction-based service lines as well as higher equity earnings driven by JLL Technologies investments and LaSalle.

Behind the Headline Numbers

During the June-end quarter, JLL’s Real Estate Services (RES) revenues increased 23% (18% in local currency) year over year to $4.4 billion, highlighting broad-based growth across all service lines, mainly driven by Leasing and Capital Markets, as well as improvement across all geographic segments.

In the Americas, revenues and fee revenues came in at $2.7 billion and $1.06 billion, respectively, reflecting a 21% and 56% year-over-year jump. This displays robust performance in transaction-based service lines, with organic fee revenues reaching the pre-pandemic levels.

Revenues and fee revenues of the EMEA segment came in at $809.8 million and $373.6 million, up 29% and 39%, respectively, from the year-ago period. This highlights strong improvement in Capital Markets and Leasing businesses following a pandemic-impacted prior-year quarter.

For the Asia-Pacific segment, revenues and fee revenues came in at $867.9 million and $271.6 million, respectively, marking a year-over-year increase of 21% and 37%. This was driven by rebound in transaction-based revenues. Also, business growth in Valuation Advisory, particularly in Australia, resulted in the revenue increase in Advisory, Consulting and Other.

Revenues and fee revenues in the LaSalle segment increased 16% and 14% year over year to $115.8 million and $108.5, respectively. This was aided by advisory fees, mainly reflecting continued growth of open-end investment vehicles and recent valuation increases.

At the end of second-quarter 2021, assets under management were $73.4 billion, up 4% from the last quarter end, reflecting net valuation increases and acquisitions, partially offset by dispositions, withdrawals and foreign currency decreases.

Liquidity

JLL exited second-quarter 2021 with cash and cash equivalents of $494 million, down from $574.3 million as of Dec 31, 2020. Additionally, as of Jun 30, 2021, the company’s net debt amounted to $648.5 million, marking a decrease of $21.7 million from the prior-quarter end and a decline of $421.2 million from the year-ago quarter end.
 
In second-quarter 2021, the company repurchased 200,000 shares for $41.1 million.

JLL currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of another Real Estate Operations Company

CBRE Group Inc. (CBRE - Free Report) reported second-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings per share of $1.36, handily beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 78 cents and the year-ago quarter tally of 35 cents. Quarterly results reflected the benefits from diversifying across asset type, business lines, client type and geography, as well as expanding its resilient business in recent years. Capital market activities drove the Advisory Services segment’s recovery.

We, now, look forward to the earnings releases of other companies in the real estate sector like Cushman & Wakefield plc (CWK - Free Report) and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM - Free Report) . While Cushman & Wakefield is scheduled to report results today, Brookfield Asset Management will release quarterly figures on Aug 12.

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