How Much Does Corporate America Depend on Foreign Revenue?
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While all of the companies in the S&P 500 are publicly-listed on U.S. exchanges, they generate a significant share of revenues overseas due to an interconnected, global consumer base.
Today, America’s largest public companies generate 41% of revenues outside of the United States. This is nearly twice as much as small-cap firms in the Russell 2000. As companies expand their international footprint, it offers both wider market access and foreign exchange risk.
This graphic shows the share of U.S. and foreign revenue across major stock indexes, based on data from Citi Global Wealth Investments.
International Exposure of Major Stock Indexes
Below, we show the share of overseas revenue across companies in the Russell 2000, the equal-weighted S&P 500 index, and the S&P 500:
Index | Share of U.S. Sales | Share of Foreign Sales |
---|---|---|
Russell 2000 | 76% | 24% |
Equal-Weight S&P 500 | 69% | 31% |
S&P 500 | 59% | 41% |
Data as of July 25, 2024.
As we can see, the Russell 2000 index generates the majority of sales domestically, providing a snapshot of small-cap companies in the U.S. economy. Specifically, the technology and materials sectors have the most international revenue exposure, a trend also seen in the S&P 500.
When looking at the equal-weighted S&P 500 index, we can see that the share of foreign sales rises to 31%. This index doesn’t skew figures based on the market cap of each company, instead representing each with an equal weight of 0.2% of the index.
Furthermore, this figure increases for the regular S&P 500, which is market-cap weighted, as the largest companies tend to have a higher share of sales driven internationally. For example, Moderna and Intel earn more than 70% of their revenue internationally.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
To learn more about this topic from a U.S. brand perspective, check out this graphic on 10 American brands now owned by foreign companies.