Broker Revenue Forecasts For Zurich Insurance Group AG (VTX:ZURN) Are Surging Higher

Zurich Insurance Group AG (VTX:ZURN) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. The revenue forecast for this year has experienced a facelift, with analysts now much more optimistic on its sales pipeline.

Following the latest upgrade, the twelve analysts covering Zurich Insurance Group provided consensus estimates of US$67b revenue in 2024, which would reflect a definite 13% decline on its sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to jump 22% to US$41.47. Before this latest update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$61b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$41.53 in 2024. There's clearly been a surge in bullishness around the company's sales pipeline, even if there's no real change in earnings per share forecasts.

See our latest analysis for Zurich Insurance Group

Even though revenue forecasts increased, there was no change to the consensus price target of CHF476, suggesting the analysts are focused on earnings as the driver of value creation.

Another way we can view these estimates is in the context of the bigger picture, such as how the forecasts stack up against past performance, and whether forecasts are more or less bullish relative to other companies in the industry. We would highlight that sales are expected to reverse, with a forecast 24% annualised revenue decline to the end of 2024. That is a notable change from historical growth of 1.3% over the last five years. Yet aggregate analyst estimates for other companies in the industry suggest that industry revenues are forecast to decline 0.7% per year. So it's pretty clear that Zurich Insurance Group's revenues are expected to shrink faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion from this consensus update is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with analysts holding earnings per share steady, in line with previous estimates. Notably, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, with sales performing well although Zurich Insurance Group's revenue growth is expected to trail that of the wider market. Seeing the dramatic upgrade to this year's forecasts, it might be time to take another look at Zurich Insurance Group.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Zurich Insurance Group going out to 2026, 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 backed by insiders.

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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.