The SSP Group plc (LON:SSPG) Analysts Have Been Trimming Their Sales Forecasts

The analysts covering SSP Group plc (LON:SSPG) delivered a dose of negativity to shareholders today, by making a substantial revision to their statutory forecasts for this year. There was a fairly draconian cut to their revenue estimates, perhaps an implicit admission that previous forecasts were much too optimistic.

Following the latest downgrade, the current consensus, from the 15 analysts covering SSP Group, is for revenues of UK£788m in 2021, which would reflect a disturbing 45% reduction in SSP Group's sales over the past 12 months. Losses are predicted to fall substantially, shrinking 53% to UK£0.36. Yet before this consensus update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of UK£946m and losses of UK£0.34 per share in 2021. Ergo, there's been a clear change in sentiment, with the analysts administering a notable cut to this year's revenue estimates, while at the same time increasing their loss per share forecasts.

See our latest analysis for SSP Group

The consensus price target was broadly unchanged at UK£3.46, perhaps implicitly signalling that the weaker earnings outlook is not expected to have a long-term impact on the valuation. 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 SSP Group at UK£4.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at UK£1.90. This is a fairly broad spread of estimates, suggesting that the analysts are forecasting a wide range of possible outcomes for the business.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the SSP Group's past performance and to peers in the same industry. Over the past year, revenues have declined around 49% annually. Worse, forecasts are essentially predicting the decline to accelerate, with the estimate for an annualised 70% decline in revenue until the end of 2021. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 15% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while it does have declining revenues, the analysts also expect SSP Group to suffer worse than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to note from this downgrade is that the consensus increased its forecast losses this year, suggesting all may not be well at SSP Group. Regrettably, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and the latest forecasts imply the business will grow sales slower than the wider market. Overall, given the drastic downgrade to this year's forecasts, we'd be feeling a little more wary of SSP Group going forwards.

There might be good reason for analyst bearishness towards SSP Group, like dilutive stock issuance over the past year. Learn more, and discover the 2 other risks we've identified, for free on our platform here.

Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

If you’re looking to trade SSP Group, open an account with the lowest-cost* platform trusted by professionals, Interactive Brokers. Their clients from over 200 countries and territories trade stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds and funds worldwide from a single integrated account. Promoted

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
^*Interactive Brokers Rated Lowest Cost Broker by StockBrokers.com Annual Online Review 2020

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