News Flash: Analysts Just Made A Dazzling Upgrade To Their Sampo Oyj (HEL:SAMPO) Forecasts

Shareholders in Sampo Oyj (HEL:SAMPO) may be thrilled to learn that the analysts have just delivered a major upgrade to their near-term forecasts. The revenue forecast for this year has experienced a facelift, with the analysts now much more optimistic on its sales pipeline.

Following the upgrade, the consensus from eleven analysts covering Sampo Oyj is for revenues of €6.8b in 2024, implying a stressful 24% decline in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to accumulate 2.2% to €2.35. Prior to this update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of €5.2b and earnings per share (EPS) of €2.36 in 2024. It seems analyst sentiment has certainly become more bullish on revenues, even though they haven't changed their view on earnings per share.

View our latest analysis for Sampo Oyj

Even though revenue forecasts increased, there was no change to the consensus price target of €42.41, suggesting the analysts are focused on earnings as the driver of value creation.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. One more thing stood out to us about these estimates, and it's the idea that Sampo Oyj's decline is expected to accelerate, with revenues forecast to fall at an annualised rate of 43% to the end of 2024. This tops off a historical decline of 2.5% a year over the past five years. Compare this against analyst estimates for companies in the broader industry, which suggest that revenues (in aggregate) are expected to grow 5.1% annually. So it's pretty clear that, while it does have declining revenues, the analysts also expect Sampo Oyj to suffer worse than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that there's been no major change in sentiment, with analysts reconfirming that earnings per share are expected to continue performing in line with their prior expectations. Fortunately, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and are forecasting revenues to grow slower than the wider market. Given that analysts appear to be expecting substantial improvement in the sales pipeline, now could be the right time to take another look at Sampo Oyj.

Better yet, our automated discounted cash flow calculation (DCF) suggests Sampo Oyj could be moderately undervalued. For more information, you can click through to our platform to learn more about our valuation approach.

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 with high insider ownership.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.