S&P 500 Companies with More Global Exposure Reported Higher Earnings Growth in Q3

Coming into the Q3 earnings season, companies in the S&P 500 with higher global exposure were expected to benefit from the tailwinds of a weaker U.S. dollar and higher global GDP growth. Now that more than 90% of the companies in the index have reported results for Q3, did S&P 500 companies with higher global revenue exposure outperform S&P 500 companies with lower global revenue exposure in terms of earnings growth and sales growth for Q3 2017?  The answer is yes.

How Did Companies with More Global Exposure Perform? 

FactSet Geographic Revenue Exposure data (based on the most recently reported fiscal year data for each company in the index) can be used to answer this question. For this particular analysis, the index was divided into two groups: companies that generate more than 50% of sales inside the U.S. (less global exposure) and companies that generate less than 50% of sales inside the U.S. (more global exposure). Aggregate earnings and revenue growth rates were then calculated based on these two groups. 

The earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 for Q3 2017 is 6.1%. For companies that generate more than 50% of sales inside the U.S., the earnings growth rate is 2.3%. For companies that generate less than 50% of sales inside the U.S., the earnings growth rate is 13.4%.

The sales growth rate for the S&P 500 for Q3 2017 is 5.8%. Companies that generated more than 50% of their sales inside the U.S., saw a sales growth rate of 4.2%. Those that generated less than 50% of sales inside the U.S., saw a sales growth rate of 10.0%.

What drove the outperformance of S&P 500 companies with higher global revenue exposure? At the sector level, the Information Technology and Energy sectors were by far the largest contributors to earnings and revenue growth in Q3 for S&P 500 companies with more global exposure. If these two sectors were excluded, the earnings and revenue growth rates for S&P 500 companies that generate less than 50% of sales inside the U.S. would fall to 0.7% and 5.7%, respectively.

“Global GDP growth is projected to increase to around 3.5% in 2017 and 3.7% in 2018 from 3% in 2016, slightly improved since the OECD’s June Economic Outlook. The upturn has become more synchronised across countries. Investment, employment and trade are expanding.” –OECD Interim Economic Outlook (September 20)