Upgrade: Analysts Just Made A Captivating Increase To Their EVN AG (VIE:EVN) Forecasts

EVN AG (VIE:EVN) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's statutory forecasts. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with the analysts modelling a real improvement in business performance.

Following this upgrade, EVN's twin analysts are forecasting 2023 revenues to be €4.0b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to soar 32% to €2.96. Prior to this update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of €3.2b and earnings per share (EPS) of €2.06 in 2023. There has definitely been an improvement in perception recently, with the analysts substantially increasing both their earnings and revenue estimates.

View our latest analysis for EVN

Despite these upgrades, the analysts have not made any major changes to their price target of €33.60, suggesting that the higher estimates are not likely to have a long term impact on what the stock is worth.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast annualised revenue decline of 0.6% by the end of 2023. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 17% over the last five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the industry are forecast to see their revenue decline 3.7% annually for the foreseeable future. So it's pretty clear that EVN's revenues are expected to shrink slower than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest takeaway for us from these new estimates is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, with improved earnings power expected for this year. Fortunately, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are expected to perform better than the wider market. Some investors might be disappointed to see that the price target is unchanged, but we feel that improving fundamentals are usually a positive - assuming these forecasts are met! So EVN could be a good candidate for more research.

Using these estimates as a starting point, we've run a discounted cash flow calculation (DCF) on EVN that suggests the company could be somewhat undervalued. For more information, you can click through to our platform to learn more about our valuation approach.

Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are upgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.