What Do Analysts Think About Palfinger AG's (VIE:PAL) Future?

After Palfinger AG's (VIE:PAL) earnings announcement on 31 December 2018, analysts seem cautiously optimistic, as a 38% increase in profits is expected in the upcoming year, against the past 5-year average growth rate of 1.6%. With trailing-twelve-month net income at current levels of €58m, we should see this rise to €80m in 2020. I will provide a brief commentary around the figures and analyst expectations in the near term. For those keen to understand more about other aspects of the company, you can research its fundamentals here.

Check out our latest analysis for Palfinger

Can we expect Palfinger to keep growing?

Longer term expectations from the 7 analysts covering PAL’s stock is one of positive sentiment. Given that it becomes hard to forecast far into the future, broker analysts tend to project ahead roughly three years. To get an idea of the overall earnings growth trend for PAL, I’ve plotted out each year’s earnings expectations and inserted a line of best fit to determine an annual rate of growth from the slope of this line.

By 2022, PAL's earnings should reach €96m, from current levels of €58m, resulting in an annual growth rate of 17%. EPS reaches €2.56 in the final year of forecast compared to the current €1.54 EPS today. In 2022, PAL's profit margin will have expanded from 3.6% to 5.4%.

Next Steps:

Future outlook is only one aspect when you're building an investment case for a stock. For Palfinger, there are three fundamental aspects you should further research:

1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.
2. Valuation: What is Palfinger worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Palfinger is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other High-Growth Alternatives : Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Palfinger? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large growth potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.