Earnings Miss: Here's What Apetit Oyj (HEL:APETIT) Analysts Are Forecasting For This Year

It's shaping up to be a tough period for Apetit Oyj (HEL:APETIT), which a week ago released some disappointing yearly results that could have a notable impact on how the market views the stock. Apetit Oyj missed earnings this time around, with €293m revenue coming in 8.8% below what the analyst had modelled. Statutory earnings per share (EPS) of €0.52 also fell short of expectations by 10%. Earnings are an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance, look at what the analyst is forecasting for next year, and see if there's been a change in sentiment towards the company. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analyst latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.

View our latest analysis for Apetit Oyj

Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for Apetit Oyj from lone analyst is for revenues of €300.0m in 2021 which, if met, would be a satisfactory 2.4% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to shoot up 47% to €0.73. In the lead-up to this report, the analyst had been modelling revenues of €322.0m and earnings per share (EPS) of €0.71 in 2021. So it's pretty clear that while sentiment around revenues has declined following the latest results, the analyst is now more bullish on the company's earnings power.

The average price target rose 10% to €11.00, with the analyst signalling that the improved earnings outlook is the key driver of value for shareholders - enough to offset the reduction in revenue estimates.

Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. For example, we noticed that Apetit Oyj's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with revenues forecast to grow 2.4%, well above its historical decline of 4.6% a year over the past five years. Compare this against analyst estimates for the wider industry, which suggest that (in aggregate) industry revenues are expected to grow 3.7% next year. Although Apetit Oyj's revenues are expected to improve, it seems that the analyst is still bearish on the business, forecasting it to grow slower than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing here is that the analyst upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards Apetit Oyj following these results. Unfortunately, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates revenues are expected to perform worse than the wider industry. Even so, earnings per share are more important to the intrinsic value of the business. Still, earnings per share are more important to value creation for shareholders. We note an upgrade to the price target, suggesting that the analyst believes the intrinsic value of the business is likely to improve over time.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have analyst estimates for Apetit Oyj going out as far as 2024, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Even so, be aware that Apetit Oyj is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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