Bullish: Analysts Just Made An Upgrade To Their Ekopak NV (EBR:EKOP) Forecasts

Ekopak NV (EBR:EKOP) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's statutory forecasts. The analysts greatly increased their revenue estimates, suggesting a stark improvement in business fundamentals.

Following the upgrade, the latest consensus from Ekopak's dual analysts is for revenues of €36m in 2023, which would reflect a substantial 48% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. The losses are expected to disappear over the next year or so, with forecasts for a profit of €0.01 per share this year. Yet before this consensus update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of €28m and losses of €0.01 per share in 2023. So we can see that this has sparked a pretty clear upgrade to expectations, with higher revenues anticipated to lead to profit sooner than previously forecast.

View our latest analysis for Ekopak

It will come as no surprise to learn that the analysts have increased their price target for Ekopak 11% to €27.50 on the back of these upgrades.

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. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that Ekopak's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2023 expected to display 48% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 72% over the past year. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.2% annually. So it's pretty clear that, while Ekopak's revenue growth is expected to slow, it's still expected to grow faster than the industry itself.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that the consensus now expects Ekopak to become profitable this year. Fortunately, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are expected to perform better than the wider market. Given that the consensus looks almost universally bullish, with a substantial increase to forecasts and a higher price target, Ekopak could be worth investigating further.

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 2025, which can be seen for free on our platform here.

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.