Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Q3 Earnings Lag, Fall Y/Y; Sales Up

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (NYSE:JLL) which shortened its name to “JLL,” reported third-quarter 2016 adjusted earnings of $1.42 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2. Adjusted earnings for third-quarter 2015 were $2.56 per share.

For the quarter, revenues came in at around $1.71 billion, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.54 billion and up 13.6% year over year. Fee revenues increased 12.4% year over year to $1.45 billion.

Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) were $127 million, down from $188 million in the prior-year quarter.

Revenue Growth

Geographically, fee revenues from the Americas totaled $718.5 million, denoting a year-over-year increase of 22%. Fee revenues in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region grew 13% year over year to $376.5 million, while that in the Asia-Pacific region rose 17% year over year to $271.9 million.

Revenues from LaSalle Investment Management segment decreased 76% year over year to $4.9 million. At the end of the third quarter, assets under management totaled $59.7 billion, up from $59.1 billion at the end of the prior quarter.

Liquidity

JLL enjoys credit facility of $2.75 billion with the maturity date of Jun 2021.

JLL exited the third quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $228.4 million, up from $216.6 million as of Dec 31, 2015. At the end of the third quarter, the company’s net debt was $1.3 billion, up $300 million from the prior-quarter end.

Dividend

JLL declared a semi-annual dividend of 33 cents per share, marking an increase of 6% from the previous payment. The payment will be made on Dec 15, 2016 to shareholders on record as of Nov 15, 2016

Our Viewpoint

JLL’s diversified product & services range, extensive knowledge of domestic & international real estate markets and a spate of strategic investment activities will aid its growth momentum. However, stiff competition and uneasiness in certain global economies remain concerns.

JLL currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

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

Some other REITs which are slated to report results this week are EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) , National Retail Properties, Inc. (NYSE:NNN) and Lamar Advertising Co. (NASDAQ:LAMR) .

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