Upgrade: Analysts Just Made A Sizeable Increase To Their Norbit ASA (OB:NORBT) Forecasts

Norbit ASA (OB:NORBT) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the covering analyst making substantial upgrades to this year's statutory forecasts. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with the analyst modelling a real improvement in business performance. Investors have been pretty optimistic on Norbit too, with the stock up 30% to kr24.40 over the past week. It will be interesting to see if today's upgrade is enough to propel the stock even higher.

Following the upgrade, the most recent consensus for Norbit from its lone analyst is for revenues of kr779m in 2021 which, if met, would be a notable 19% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to shoot up 195% to kr1.90. Prior to this update, the analyst had been forecasting revenues of kr707m and earnings per share (EPS) of kr1.03 in 2021. There has definitely been an improvement in perception recently, with the analyst substantially increasing both their earnings and revenue estimates.

Check out our latest analysis for Norbit

With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analyst has lifted their price target 20% to kr30.00 per share.

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. The analyst is definitely expecting Norbit's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 43% annualised growth to the end of 2021 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 0.7% per annum over the past year. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 47% annually. Norbit is expected to grow at about the same rate as its industry, so it's not clear that we can draw any conclusions from its growth relative to competitors.

The Bottom Line

The biggest takeaway for us from these new estimates is that the analyst upgraded their earnings per share estimates, with improved earnings power expected for this year. There was also an upgrade to revenue estimates, although as we saw earlier, forecast growth is only expected to be about the same as the wider market. Given that the consensus looks almost universally bullish, with a substantial increase to forecasts and a higher price target, Norbit could be worth investigating further.

Even so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders. We have analyst estimates for Norbit going out as far as 2023, 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 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.
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