This Just In: Analysts Are Boosting Their Alfen N.V. (AMS:ALFEN) Outlook for This Year

Celebrations may be in order for Alfen N.V. (AMS:ALFEN) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a significant upgrade to their statutory estimates for the company. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with analysts modelling a real improvement in business performance. Investors have been pretty optimistic on Alfen too, with the stock up 11% to €115 over the past week. It will be interesting to see if today's upgrade is enough to propel the stock even higher.

After the upgrade, the five analysts covering Alfen are now predicting revenues of €430m in 2022. If met, this would reflect a substantial 26% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to bounce 31% to €2.24. Prior to this update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of €385m and earnings per share (EPS) of €1.84 in 2022. There has definitely been an improvement in perception recently, with the analysts substantially increasing both their earnings and revenue estimates.

Check out our latest analysis for Alfen

With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analysts have lifted their price target 18% to €127 per share. 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 Alfen at €143 per share, while the most bearish prices it at €106. With such a narrow range of valuations, analysts apparently share similar views on what they think the business is worth.

Another way we can view these estimates is in the context of the bigger picture, such as how the forecasts stack up against past performance, and whether forecasts are more or less bullish relative to other companies in the industry. It's clear from the latest estimates that Alfen's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 60% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2022 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 31% p.a. over the past three years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 7.8% per year. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Alfen is expected to grow much faster than its 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. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for this year, and sales are expected to grow faster than the wider market. With a serious upgrade to expectations and a rising price target, it might be time to take another look at Alfen.

Analysts are definitely bullish on Alfen, 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 risk 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.