Vitrolife AB (publ) Just Beat EPS By 16%: Here's What Analysts Think Will Happen Next

Vitrolife AB (publ) (STO:VITR) just released its quarterly report and things are looking bullish. Vitrolife beat earnings, with revenues hitting kr941m, ahead of expectations, and statutory earnings per share outperforming analyst reckonings by a solid 16%. 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. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.

View our latest analysis for Vitrolife

After the latest results, the four analysts covering Vitrolife are now predicting revenues of kr3.67b in 2024. If met, this would reflect an okay 3.8% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Earnings are expected to improve, with Vitrolife forecast to report a statutory profit of kr4.07 per share. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of kr3.63b and earnings per share (EPS) of kr4.15 in 2024. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.

The consensus price target rose 5.8% to kr245despite there being no meaningful change to earnings estimates. It could be that the analystsare reflecting the predictability of Vitrolife's earnings by assigning a price premium. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. There are some variant perceptions on Vitrolife, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at kr265 and the most bearish at kr220 per share. With such a narrow range of valuations, the 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 pretty clear that there is an expectation that Vitrolife's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2024 expected to display 7.8% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 25% over the past five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 17% 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 Vitrolife.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. We note an upgrade to the price target, suggesting that the analysts believes the intrinsic value of the business is likely to improve over time.

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 estimates - from multiple Vitrolife analysts - going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 1 warning sign for Vitrolife that you need to be mindful 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com