Earnings Miss: Krones AG Missed EPS By 13% And Analysts Are Revising Their Forecasts

Krones AG (ETR:KRN) came out with its third-quarter results last week, and we wanted to see how the business is performing and what industry forecasters think of the company following this report. It was not a great result overall. While revenues of €1.3b were in line with analyst predictions, earnings were less than expected, missing statutory estimates by 13% to hit €2.08 per share. Earnings are an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance, look at what the analysts are forecasting for next year, and see if there's been a change in sentiment towards the company. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.

Check out our latest analysis for Krones

Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Krones' nine analysts is for revenues of €5.78b in 2025. This would reflect a solid 12% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to surge 33% to €10.53. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of €5.77b and earnings per share (EPS) of €10.59 in 2025. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.

The analysts reconfirmed their price target of €151, showing that the business is executing well and in line with expectations. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. The most optimistic Krones analyst has a price target of €170 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at €125. This is a very narrow spread of estimates, implying either that Krones is an easy company to value, or - more likely - the analysts are relying heavily on some key assumptions.

Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. The analysts are definitely expecting Krones' growth to accelerate, with the forecast 9.5% annualised growth to the end of 2025 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 6.8% per annum over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 4.3% per year. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Krones to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. Fortunately, they also reconfirmed their revenue numbers, suggesting that it's tracking in line with expectations. Additionally, our data suggests that revenue is expected to grow faster than the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates.

Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. We have forecasts for Krones going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Even so, be aware that Krones is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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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.