Analyst Estimates: Here's What Brokers Think Of Computacenter plc (LON:CCC) After Its Annual Report

Last week, you might have seen that Computacenter plc (LON:CCC) released its yearly result to the market. The early response was not positive, with shares down 7.0% to UK£27.02 in the past week. Results look mixed - while revenue fell marginally short of analyst estimates at UK£6.9b, statutory earnings beat expectations 2.9%, with Computacenter reporting profits of UK£1.73 per share. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. 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 Computacenter

Following last week's earnings report, Computacenter's eleven analysts are forecasting 2024 revenues to be UK£6.96b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to decrease 2.0% to UK£1.71 in the same period. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of UK£7.29b and earnings per share (EPS) of UK£1.74 in 2024. The consensus seems maybe a little more pessimistic, trimming their revenue forecasts after the latest results even though there was no change to its EPS estimates.

The consensus has reconfirmed its price target of UK£31.66, showing that the analysts don't expect weaker revenue expectations next year to have a material impact on Computacenter'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 Computacenter analyst has a price target of UK£33.50 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at UK£26.50. This is a very narrow spread of estimates, implying either that Computacenter is an easy company to value, or - more likely - the analysts are relying heavily on some key assumptions.

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 would highlight that Computacenter's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 0.5% annualised growth rate until the end of 2024 being well below the historical 8.9% p.a. growth over the last five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.7% 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 Computacenter.

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. On the negative side, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. With that said, earnings are more important to the long-term value of the business. 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.

Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. We have estimates - from multiple Computacenter analysts - going out to 2026, 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 Computacenter 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.