Results: SSAB AB (publ) Beat Earnings Expectations And Analysts Now Have New Forecasts

As you might know, SSAB AB (publ) (STO:SSAB A) just kicked off its latest first-quarter results with some very strong numbers. The company beat forecasts, with revenue of kr26b, some 4.3% above estimates, and statutory earnings per share (EPS) coming in at kr1.13, 44% ahead of expectations. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.

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Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for SSAB from 14 analysts is for revenues of kr104.8b in 2025. If met, it would imply a reasonable 3.0% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to bounce 35% to kr6.87. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of kr102.7b and earnings per share (EPS) of kr5.69 in 2025. So it seems there's been a definite increase in optimism about SSAB's future following the latest results, with a considerable lift to the earnings per share forecasts in particular.

View our latest analysis for SSAB

Despite these upgrades,the analysts have not made any major changes to their price target of kr72.31, suggesting that the higher estimates are not likely to have a long term impact on what the stock is worth. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. The most optimistic SSAB analyst has a price target of kr92.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at kr51.00. As you can see, analysts are not all in agreement on the stock's future, but the range of estimates is still reasonably narrow, which could suggest that the outcome is not totally unpredictable.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the SSAB's past performance and to peers in the same industry. We would highlight that SSAB's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 4.0% annualised growth rate until the end of 2025 being well below the historical 10% p.a. growth over the last five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 4.9% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while revenue growth is expected to slow down, the wider industry is also expected to grow faster than SSAB.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing here is that the analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards SSAB following these results. Fortunately, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, although our data indicates it is expected to perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at kr72.31, 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. We have forecasts for SSAB going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here.

However, before you get too enthused, we've discovered 2 warning signs for SSAB 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.