In today's world, most companies span several regions and sell across the world. As Foolish colleague Morgan Housel notes, 10 years ago, less than a third of S&P 500 revenue came from abroad. Today, that makes up half the S&P's sales and continues to grow.
And that number is growing. The truth is, investors regularly underestimate how much demand comes from abroad. More important, for large, multinational corporations that have already established a presence in their home markets, much of their future growth comes from abroad.
With that in mind, today we're looking at BMC (Nasdaq: BMC ) . We'll examine not only where its sales and earnings come from, but how its sales abroad have changed over time.
Where BMC's sales were five years ago
Five years ago, BMC collected 53% of its sales from the United States.
Source: S&P Capital IQ.
Where BMC's sales are today
Today, BMC's sales in the United States have ticked down a bit, to 51%.
Source: S&P Capital IQ.
|
Segment
|
5-Year Sales Growth
|
|
United States
|
34%
|
|
International
|
42%
|
|
Company-Wide
|
38%
|
Source: S&P Capital IQ.
BMC has long had a strong presence abroad. The ability to profit from other geographies has been a key advantage for the company, but could also pose a challenge in coming quarters. BMC's recent earnings featured weak guidance -- and lowered total bookings -- which is likely attributed to weakness in the European market.
Competitor checkup
One last point to check is how BMC's footprint compares with some of its peers and industry rivals:
|
Company
|
Geography With Most Sales
|
Percent of Sales
|
|
BMC
|
United States
|
51%
|
|
EMC (NYSE: EMC )
|
United States
|
54%
|
|
CA Technologies (Nasdaq: CA )
|
United States
|
61%
|
|
Comverse (Nasdaq: CMVT )
|
United States
|
30%
|
Source: S&P Capital IQ. Fiscal year 2010.
Overall, BMC's international sales are relatively in line with those of its technology peers. While Europe might present challenges in coming quarters, long-term opportunities will be presented in markets like Asia and Latin America.
Keep searching
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