Forecast: Analysts Think FBD Holdings plc's (ISE:EG7) Business Prospects Have Improved Drastically

Shareholders in FBD Holdings plc (ISE:EG7) may be thrilled to learn that the analysts have just delivered a major upgrade to their near-term forecasts. The analysts greatly increased their revenue estimates, suggesting a stark improvement in business fundamentals.

After this upgrade, FBD Holdings' two analysts are now forecasting revenues of €397m in 2023. This would be a meaningful 8.4% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are supposed to plummet 45% to €1.48 in the same period. Before this latest update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of €349m and earnings per share (EPS) of €1.25 in 2023. So we can see there's been a pretty clear increase in analyst sentiment in recent times, with both revenues and earnings per share receiving a decent lift in the latest estimates.

View our latest analysis for FBD Holdings

Despite these upgrades, the analysts have not made any major changes to their price target of €16.10, suggesting that the higher estimates are not likely to have a long term impact on what the stock is worth.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. It's clear from the latest estimates that FBD Holdings' rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 8.4% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2023 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 0.1% p.a. over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.2% per year. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect FBD Holdings to grow faster than the wider industry.

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. Some investors might be disappointed to see that the price target is unchanged, but we feel that improving fundamentals are usually a positive - assuming these forecasts are met! So FBD Holdings could be a good candidate for more research.

Analysts are definitely bullish on FBD Holdings, but no company is perfect. Indeed, you should know that there are several potential concerns to be aware of, including concerns around earnings quality. For more information, you can click through to our platform to learn more about this and the 1 other warning sign we've identified .

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.

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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.