Revenue Downgrade: Here's What Analysts Forecast For VERBUND AG (VIE:VER)

One thing we could say about the analysts on VERBUND AG (VIE:VER) - they aren't optimistic, having just made a major negative revision to their near-term (statutory) forecasts for the organization. This report focused on revenue estimates, and it looks as though the consensus view of the business has become substantially more conservative.

Following the latest downgrade, the current consensus, from the nine analysts covering VERBUND, is for revenues of €12b in 2024, which would reflect a perceptible 6.6% reduction in VERBUND's sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are supposed to descend 14% to €6.54 in the same period. Before this latest update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of €13b and earnings per share (EPS) of €6.70 in 2024. It looks like analyst sentiment has fallen somewhat in this update, with a measurable cut to revenue estimates and a minor downgrade to earnings per share numbers as well.

View our latest analysis for VERBUND

Despite the cuts to forecast earnings, there was no real change to the €82.64 price target, showing that the analysts don't think the changes have a meaningful impact on its intrinsic value.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the VERBUND's past performance and to peers in the same industry. We would highlight that sales are expected to reverse, with a forecast 5.3% annualised revenue decline to the end of 2024. That is a notable change from historical growth of 34% 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 3.0% annually for the foreseeable future. So it's pretty clear that VERBUND's revenues are expected to shrink faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest issue in the new estimates is that analysts have reduced their earnings per share estimates, suggesting business headwinds lay ahead for VERBUND. Unfortunately they also cut their revenue estimates for next year, and they expect sales to lag the wider market. That said, earnings per share are more important for creating value for shareholders. Given the stark change in sentiment, we'd understand if investors became more cautious on VERBUND after today.

Still, the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for VERBUND going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies 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.