Entain Plc (LON:ENT) Annual Results: Here's What Analysts Are Forecasting For This Year

Shareholders might have noticed that Entain Plc (LON:ENT) filed its yearly result this time last week. The early response was not positive, with shares down 3.1% to UK£7.24 in the past week. It was a pretty bad result overall; while revenues were in line with expectations at UK£5.1b, statutory losses exploded to UK£0.71 per share. Earnings are an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance, look at what the analysts are forecasting for next year, and see if there's been a change in sentiment towards the company. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.

See our latest analysis for Entain

Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Entain's 17 analysts is for revenues of UK£5.24b in 2025. This would reflect an okay 2.9% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. The loss per share is expected to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 88% to UK£0.087. Before this earnings announcement, the analysts had been modelling revenues of UK£5.31b and losses of UK£0.087 per share in 2025.

The consensus price target was unchanged at UK£9.70, suggesting that the business - losses and all - is executing in line with estimates. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. There are some variant perceptions on Entain, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at UK£11.40 and the most bearish at UK£7.80 per share. 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. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that Entain's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2025 expected to display 2.9% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 8.5% over the past five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.1% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while revenue growth is expected to slow down, the wider industry is also expected to grow faster than Entain.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that the analysts reconfirmed their loss per share estimates for next year. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates.

With that in mind, we wouldn't be too quick to come to a conclusion on Entain. Long-term earnings power is much more important than next year's profits. We have estimates - from multiple Entain analysts - going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Before you take the next step you should know about the 1 warning sign for Entain that we have uncovered.

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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.