Earnings Update: Here's Why Analysts Just Lifted Their Freelance.com SA (EPA:ALFRE) Price Target To €4.90

Shareholders of Freelance.com SA (EPA:ALFRE) will be pleased this week, given that the stock price is up 16% to €4.85 following its latest annual results. It was an okay result overall, with revenues coming in at €325m, roughly what the analyst had been expecting. The analyst typically update their forecasts at each earnings report, and we can judge from their estimates whether their view of the company has changed or if there are any new concerns to be aware of. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analyst is expecting for next year.

See our latest analysis for Freelance.com

Following the latest results, Freelance.com's one analyst are now forecasting revenues of €444.8m in 2021. This would be a huge 37% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to jump 71% to €0.23. In the lead-up to this report, the analyst had been modelling revenues of €432.1m and earnings per share (EPS) of €0.14 in 2021. There's been a pretty noticeable increase in sentiment, with the analyst upgrading revenues and making a very substantial lift in earnings per share in particular.

It will come as no surprise to learn that the analyst has increased their price target for Freelance.com 14% to €4.90on the back of these upgrades.

One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. We can infer from the latest estimates that forecasts expect a continuation of Freelance.com'shistorical trends, as the 37% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2021 is roughly in line with the 36% annual revenue growth over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenues grow 7.2% per year. So although Freelance.com is expected to maintain its revenue growth rate, it's definitely expected to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest takeaway for us is the consensus earnings per share upgrade, which suggests a clear improvement in sentiment around Freelance.com's earnings potential next year. Happily, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and are forecasting revenues to grow faster than the wider industry. 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.

Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. At least one analyst has provided forecasts out to 2022, which can be seen for free on our platform here.

Before you take the next step you should know about the 2 warning signs for Freelance.com that we have uncovered.

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