Real estate firm JLL (NYSE: JLL) reported Q1 CY2025 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 12.1% year on year to $5.75 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.31 per share was 5.8% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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JLL (JLL) Q1 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $5.75 billion vs analyst estimates of $5.52 billion (12.1% year-on-year growth, 4.1% beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $2.31 vs analyst estimates of $2.18 (5.8% beat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $224.8 million vs analyst estimates of $210.7 million (3.9% margin, 6.7% beat)
- Operating Margin: 2.1%, in line with the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow was -$812.1 million compared to -$720.7 million in the same quarter last year
- Market Capitalization: $10.92 billion
"Broad-based revenue growth and the 28% increase in Adjusted EPS in the first quarter are a reflection of JLL's multi-year focus on platform differentiation, efficiency and resiliency," said Christian Ulbrich, JLL CEO.
Company Overview
Founded in 1999 through the merger of Jones Lang Wootton and LaSalle Partners, JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a company specializing in real estate advisory and investment management services.
Sales Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul. Over the last five years, JLL grew its sales at a sluggish 5.7% compounded annual growth rate. This fell short of our benchmark for the consumer discretionary sector and is a rough starting point for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within consumer discretionary, a stretched historical view may miss a company riding a successful new product or trend. JLL’s annualized revenue growth of 7.6% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, but we were still disappointed by the results. 
This quarter, JLL reported year-on-year revenue growth of 12.1%, and its $5.75 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 4.1%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 8.2% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection is underwhelming and indicates its newer products and services will not catalyze better top-line performance yet.
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Operating Margin
JLL’s operating margin might fluctuated slightly over the last 12 months but has remained more or less the same, averaging 3.4% over the last two years. This profitability was lousy for a consumer discretionary business and caused by its suboptimal cost structure.
In Q1, JLL generated an operating profit margin of 2.1%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.
Earnings Per Share
We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.
JLL’s flat EPS over the last five years was below its 5.7% annualized revenue growth. However, its operating margin didn’t change during this time, telling us that non-fundamental factors such as interest and taxes affected its ultimate earnings.
In Q1, JLL reported EPS at $2.31, up from $1.78 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 5.8%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects JLL’s full-year EPS of $14.51 to grow 14.8%.
Key Takeaways from JLL’s Q1 Results
We enjoyed seeing JLL beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also happy its EBITDA outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a decent quarter with some key metrics above expectations. The market seemed to be expecting even more, and shares traded down 1.9% to $225.11 immediately following the results.
So do we think JLL is an attractive buy at the current price? What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free.
