Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Lear (LEA) Reliance on International Sales: What Investors Need to Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

Have you evaluated the performance of Lear's (LEA - Free Report) international operations for the quarter ending September 2024? Given the extensive global presence of this automotive seating and electrical distribution systems company, analyzing the patterns in international revenues is crucial for understanding its financial strength and potential for growth.

In the modern, closely-knit global economic landscape, the capacity of a business to access foreign markets is often a key determinant of its financial well-being and growth path. Investors now place great importance on grasping the extent of a company's dependence on international markets, as it sheds light on the firm's earnings stability, its skill in leveraging various economic cycles and its broad growth potential.

International market involvement serves as insurance against economic downturns at home and enables engagement with economies that are growing more quickly. Still, this move toward diversification is not without its challenges, as it involves navigating through the fluctuations of currencies, geopolitical threats, and the distinctive nature of various markets.

While delving into LEA's performance for the past quarter, we observed some fascinating trends in the revenue from its foreign segments that are commonly modeled and observed by analysts on Wall Street.

The company's total revenue for the quarter stood at $5.58 billion, declining 3.4% year over year. Now, let's delve into LEA's international revenue breakdown to gain insights into the significance of its operations beyond home turf.

Trends in LEA's Revenue from International Markets

South America generated $233.5 million in revenues for the company in the last quarter, constituting 4.2% of the total. This represented a surprise of -3.51% compared to the $241.99 million projected by Wall Street analysts. Comparatively, in the previous quarter, South America accounted for $213.9 million (3.6%), and in the year-ago quarter, it contributed $241.7 million (4.2%) to the total revenue.

During the quarter, Europe and Africa contributed $1.89 billion in revenue, making up 33.9% of the total revenue. When compared to the consensus estimate of $1.9 billion, this meant a surprise of -0.59%. Looking back, Europe and Africa contributed $2.17 billion, or 36.1%, in the previous quarter, and $2.02 billion, or 34.9%, in the same quarter of the previous year.

Asia accounted for 18.9% of the company's total revenue during the quarter, translating to $1.06 billion. Revenues from this region represented a surprise of -5.26%, with Wall Street analysts collectively expecting $1.11 billion. When compared to the preceding quarter and the same quarter in the previous year, Asia contributed $1.07 billion (17.9%) and $1.14 billion (19.8%) to the total revenue, respectively.

International Market Revenue Projections

It is projected by analysts on Wall Street that Lear will post revenues of $5.79 billion for the ongoing fiscal quarter, a decline of 0.9% from the year-ago quarter. The expected contributions from South America, Europe and Africa and Asia to this revenue are 4%, 35.1% and 20.1%, translating into $232.3 million, $2.03 billion and $1.17 billion, respectively.

For the full year, the company is projected to achieve a total revenue of $23.27 billion, which signifies a fall of 0.9% from the last year. The share of this revenue from various regions is expected to be: South America at 3.8% ($893.39 million), Europe and Africa at 35.9% ($8.36 billion) and Asia at 19% ($4.41 billion).

Final Thoughts

The dependency of Lear on global markets for its revenues presents a mix of potential gains and hazards. Thus, monitoring the trends in its overseas revenues can be a key indicator for predicting the firm's future performance.

With the increasing intricacies of global interdependence and geopolitical strife, Wall Street analysts meticulously observe these patterns, especially for companies with an international footprint, to tweak their forecasts of earnings. Importantly, several additional factors, such as a company's domestic market status, also impact these earnings forecasts.

At Zacks, a company's changing earnings outlook is given considerable attention due to its proven, strong influence on a stock's price performance in the near term. The connection here is straightforward and positive: when earnings estimates are revised upward, the stock price generally follows suit, increasing as well.

The Zacks Rank, our proprietary stock rating mechanism, demonstrates a notable performance history confirmed through external audits. It effectively utilizes the power of earnings estimate revisions to act as a predictor of a stock's price performance in the near term.

At present, Lear holds a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). This ranking implies that its near-term performance might underperform the overall market movement. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Examining the Latest Trends in Lear's Stock Value

Over the past month, the stock has lost 7.6% versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's 1.7% increase. The Zacks Auto-Tires-Trucks sector, of which Lear is a part, has declined 3.6% over the same period. The company's shares have declined 8.3% over the past three months compared to the S&P 500's 7% increase. Over the same period, the sector has risen 4.6%.

See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Lear Corporation (LEA) - free report >>

Published in