News Flash: Analysts Just Made A Notable Upgrade To Their GL Events SA (EPA:GLO) Forecasts

GL Events SA (EPA:GLO) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. The revenue forecast for this year has experienced a facelift, with analysts now much more optimistic on its sales pipeline. GL Events has also found favour with investors, with the stock up a remarkable 12% to €15.76 over the past week. We'll be curious to see if these new estimates convince the market to lift the stock price higher still.

Following the upgrade, the most recent consensus for GL Events from its four analysts is for revenues of €1.2b in 2022 which, if met, would be a notable 9.6% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are supposed to nosedive 34% to €1.42 in the same period. Previously, the analysts had been modelling revenues of €1.0b and earnings per share (EPS) of €1.29 in 2022. Sentiment certainly seems to have improved in recent times, with a nice increase in revenue and a slight bump in earnings per share estimates.

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Despite these upgrades, the analysts have not made any major changes to their price target of €20.68, suggesting that the higher estimates are not likely to have a long term impact on what the stock is worth. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. Currently, the most bullish analyst values GL Events at €22.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at €15.00. There are definitely some different views on the stock, but the range of estimates is not wide enough as to imply that the situation is unforecastable, in our view.

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. One thing stands out from these estimates, which is that GL Events is forecast to grow faster in the future than it has in the past, with revenues expected to display 20% annualised growth until the end of 2022. If achieved, this would be a much better result than the 8.5% annual decline over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 4.7% per year. So it looks like GL Events is expected to grow faster than its competitors, at least for a while.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates for this year, expecting improving business conditions. Fortunately, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are expected to perform better 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 GL Events.

Still, the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. We have estimates - from multiple GL Events analysts - going out to 2024, and you can see them free on our platform here.

We also provide an overview of the GL Events Board and CEO remuneration and length of tenure at the company, and whether insiders have been buying the stock, 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.