Need To Know: Analysts Are Much More Bullish On Glanbia plc (ISE:GL9) Revenues

Celebrations may be in order for Glanbia plc (ISE:GL9) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a significant upgrade to their statutory estimates for the company. The revenue forecast for this year has experienced a facelift, with analysts now much more optimistic on its sales pipeline.

After the upgrade, the consensus from Glanbia's eight analysts is for revenues of US$4.1b in 2024, which would reflect a measurable 7.3% decline in sales compared to the last year of performance. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to rise 2.6% to US$1.18. Prior to this update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$3.7b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.17 in 2024. There's clearly been a surge in bullishness around the company's sales pipeline, even if there's no real change in earnings per share forecasts.

View our latest analysis for Glanbia

Even though revenue forecasts increased, there was no change to the consensus price target of €20.32, suggesting the analysts are focused on earnings as the driver of value creation.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast annualised revenue decline of 14% by the end of 2024. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 5.7% over the last five years. Compare this with our data, which suggests that other companies in the same industry are, in aggregate, expected to see their revenue grow 3.7% per year. So although its revenues are forecast to shrink, this cloud does not come with a silver lining - Glanbia is expected to lag the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion from this consensus update is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with analysts holding earnings per share steady, in line with previous estimates. Pleasantly, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, and their forecasts suggest the business is expected to grow slower than the wider market. Seeing the dramatic upgrade to this year's forecasts, it might be time to take another look at Glanbia.

Even so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Glanbia going out to 2026, and you can see them 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 backed by insiders.

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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.