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Equifax (EFX) Reliance on International Sales: What Investors Need to Know

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Have you looked into how Equifax (EFX - Free Report) performed internationally during the quarter ending September 2024? Considering the widespread global presence of this credit reporting company, examining the trends in international revenues is essential for assessing its financial resilience and prospects for growth.

In the current era of a tightly interconnected global economy, the proficiency of a company to penetrate international markets significantly influences its financial health and trajectory of growth. For investors, the key is to grasp how reliant a company is on overseas markets, as this provides insights into the durability of its earnings, its ability to exploit different economic cycles, and its overall growth capabilities.

Being present in foreign markets serves as protection against local economic declines and helps benefit from more rapidly expanding economies. Yet, such expansion also introduces challenges related to currency fluctuations, geopolitical uncertainties and varied market behaviors.

While analyzing EFX's performance for the last quarter, we found some intriguing trends in revenues from its overseas segments that Wall Street analysts commonly model and monitor.

The company's total revenue for the quarter amounted to $1.44 billion, marking an increase of 9.3% from the year-ago quarter. We will next turn our attention to dissecting EFX's international revenue to get a clearer picture of how significant its operations are outside its main base.

Decoding EFX's International Revenue Trends

Latin America generated $96.7 million in revenues for the company in the last quarter, constituting 6.7% of the total. This represented a surprise of -4.91% compared to the $101.69 million projected by Wall Street analysts. Comparatively, in the previous quarter, Latin America accounted for $97.3 million (6.8%), and in the year-ago quarter, it contributed $80.1 million (6.1%) to the total revenue.

Asia Pacific accounted for 6.1% of the company's total revenue during the quarter, translating to $88.5 million. Revenues from this region represented a surprise of +1.65%, with Wall Street analysts collectively expecting $87.06 million. When compared to the preceding quarter and the same quarter in the previous year, Asia Pacific contributed $84.6 million (5.9%) and $85.5 million (6.5%) to the total revenue, respectively.

Of the total revenue, $64.8 million came from Canada during the last fiscal quarter, accounting for 4.5%. This represented a surprise of -5.5% as analysts had expected the region to contribute $68.57 million to the total revenue. In comparison, the region contributed $69.2 million, or 4.8%, and $65.1 million, or 4.9%, to total revenue in the previous and year-ago quarters, respectively.

During the quarter, Europe contributed $94.9 million in revenue, making up 6.6% of the total revenue. When compared to the consensus estimate of $93.78 million, this meant a surprise of +1.19%. Looking back, Europe contributed $88.2 million, or 6.2%, in the previous quarter, and $85.2 million, or 6.5%, in the same quarter of the previous year.

International Revenue Predictions

For the current fiscal quarter, it is anticipated by Wall Street analysts that Equifax will report a total revenue of $1.45 billion, which reflects an increase of 9.4% from the same quarter in the previous year. The revenue contributions are expected to be 7.5% from Latin America ($108.89 million), 5.9% from Asia Pacific ($86.16 million), 4.7% from Canada ($68.85 million) and 7% from Europe ($101.11 million).

For the full year, the company is projected to achieve a total revenue of $5.73 billion, which signifies a rise of 8.8% from the last year. The share of this revenue from various regions is expected to be: Latin America at 7% ($398.97 million), Asia Pacific at 5.9% ($336.03 million), Canada at 4.8% ($272.42 million) and Europe at 6.5% ($369.29 million).

Final Thoughts

Equifax's leaning on foreign markets for its revenue stream presents a mix of chances and challenges. Therefore, a vigilant watch on its international revenue movements can greatly aid in projecting the company's future direction.

In a world where international interdependencies and geopolitical conflicts are ever-increasing, Wall Street analysts closely monitor these trends for companies having international presence to adjust their earnings forecasts. Of course, there are several other factors, including a company's standing within its home borders, that influence analysts' earnings forecasts.

We at Zacks strongly focus on the dynamic earnings forecast of companies, given that empirical studies have demonstrated its potent impact on the immediate price movement of stocks. Invariably, there's a positive relationship -- upward earnings predictions often result in an increase in stock prices.

With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool - the Zacks Rank - harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions and serves as an effective indicator of a stock's near-term price performance.

Currently, Equifax holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), signifying its potential to match the overall market's performance in the forthcoming period. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Examining the Latest Trends in Equifax's Stock Value

Over the past month, the stock has seen a decline of 5.7% in its value, whereas the Zacks S&P 500 composite has posted an increase of 4.5%. The Zacks Business Services sector, Equifax's industry group, has ascended 4.6% over the identical span. In the past three months, there's been an increase of 3.8% in the company's stock price, against a rise of 6.1% in the S&P 500 index. The broader sector has increased by 8.5% during this interval.

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