Scanfil Oyj Just Recorded A 6.3% EPS Beat: Here's What Analysts Are Forecasting Next

It's been a good week for Scanfil Oyj (HEL:SCANFL) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest quarterly results, and the shares gained 2.9% to €7.46. Scanfil Oyj missed revenue estimates by 6.1%, coming in at€196m, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) of €0.17 beat expectations, coming in 6.3% ahead of analyst estimates. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.

See our latest analysis for Scanfil Oyj

After the latest results, the consensus from Scanfil Oyj's five analysts is for revenues of €799.0m in 2024, which would reflect a perceptible 3.5% decline in revenue compared to the last year of performance. Statutory per share are forecast to be €0.66, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of €826.1m and earnings per share (EPS) of €0.65 in 2024. So it looks like the analysts have become a bit less optimistic after the latest results announcement, with revenues expected to fall even as the company is supposed to maintain EPS.

The consensus has reconfirmed its price target of €9.20, showing that the analysts don't expect weaker revenue expectations next year to have a material impact on Scanfil Oyj's market value. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. The most optimistic Scanfil Oyj analyst has a price target of €9.60 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at €9.00. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Scanfil Oyj is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar 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. These estimates imply that revenue is expected to slow, with a forecast annualised decline of 6.9% by the end of 2024. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 11% over the last five years. Compare this with our data, which suggests that other companies in the same industry are, in aggregate, expected to see their revenue grow 6.7% per year. It's pretty clear that Scanfil Oyj's revenues are expected to perform substantially 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 the analysts reconfirming that the business is performing in line with their previous earnings per share estimates. Unfortunately, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates underperformance compared to 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. The consensus price target held steady at €9.20, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. We have estimates - from multiple Scanfil Oyj analysts - going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

It might also be worth considering whether Scanfil Oyj's debt load is appropriate, using our debt analysis tools on the Simply Wall St platform, here.

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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.