Datalogic S.p.A. (BIT:DAL) Just Released Its Third-Quarter Results And Analysts Are Updating Their Estimates

Last week, you might have seen that Datalogic S.p.A. (BIT:DAL) released its third-quarter result to the market. The early response was not positive, with shares down 7.0% to €5.46 in the past week. Revenues came in 3.8% below expectations, at €122m. Statutory earnings per share were relatively better off, with a per-share profit of €0.18 being roughly in line with analyst estimates. 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. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on Datalogic after the latest results.

Check out our latest analysis for Datalogic

After the latest results, the four analysts covering Datalogic are now predicting revenues of €564.5m in 2025. If met, this would reflect a decent 13% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to leap 72% to €0.47. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of €570.0m and earnings per share (EPS) of €0.48 in 2025. So it looks like there's been a small decline in overall sentiment after the recent results - there's been no major change to revenue estimates, but the analysts did make a small dip in their earnings per share forecasts.

It might be a surprise to learn that the consensus price target was broadly unchanged at €7.28, with the analysts clearly implying that the forecast decline in earnings is not expected to have much of an impact on valuation. 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 Datalogic, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at €8.00 and the most bearish at €6.40 per share. This is a very narrow spread of estimates, implying either that Datalogic is an easy company to value, or - more likely - the analysts are relying heavily on some key assumptions.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Datalogic's past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's clear from the latest estimates that Datalogic's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 10% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2025 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 0.2% p.a. over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 8.5% annually. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Datalogic is expected to grow at about the same rate as the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest concern is that the analysts reduced their earnings per share estimates, suggesting business headwinds could lay ahead for Datalogic. Happily, there were no real changes to revenue forecasts, with the business still expected to grow in line with the overall industry. The consensus price target held steady at €7.28, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Datalogic going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here..

Don't forget that there may still be risks. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Datalogic that you should be aware of.

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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.