Forecast: Analysts Think Big River Industries Limited's (ASX:BRI) Business Prospects Have Improved Drastically

Celebrations may be in order for Big River Industries Limited (ASX:BRI) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a significant upgrade to their statutory estimates for the company. The consensus statutory numbers for both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) increased, with their view clearly much more bullish on the company's business prospects. Big River Industries has also found favour with investors, with the stock up a worthy 11% to AU$2.30 over the past week. It will be interesting to see if today's upgrade is enough to propel the stock even higher.

Following the upgrade, the latest consensus from Big River Industries' dual analysts is for revenues of AU$393m in 2022, which would reflect a meaningful 15% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to increase 3.0% to AU$0.21. Before this latest update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of AU$325m and earnings per share (EPS) of AU$0.12 in 2022. So we can see there's been a pretty clear increase in analyst sentiment in recent times, with both revenues and earnings per share receiving a decent lift in the latest estimates.

View our latest analysis for Big River Industries

One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. The analysts are definitely expecting Big River Industries' growth to accelerate, with the forecast 32% annualised growth to the end of 2022 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 12% per annum over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 4.0% annually. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Big River Industries to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates for this year, expecting improving business conditions. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for this year, and sales are expected to grow faster than the wider market. The clear improvement in sentiment should be enough to get most shareholders feeling more optimistic about Big River Industries' future.

Still, the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At least one analyst has provided forecasts out to 2024, which can be seen for 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.